


Grave Mistake

by CandlesInTheSnow



Series: Grave Mistake [1]
Category: D.Gray-man
Genre: Corpse!Nea, Multi, Necromanced!Nea, Necromancer!Allen, Necromancy, Past!Allen messed up
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-07-19
Updated: 2016-08-19
Packaged: 2018-07-25 09:35:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 7
Words: 24,390
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7527589
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CandlesInTheSnow/pseuds/CandlesInTheSnow
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Thirty-five years ago, something went wrong and Nea, instead of living on in memory, dies. Made into a personal Necromancy-Summon, he's summoned by an eleven-year-old Allen Walker. Allen is then trained by his Master in Necromancy and in magic. Having to keep his constant contact with Nea a secret from even his Master, things get complicated when Allen joins the Black Order.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you all enjoy this story! It's also on Tumblr and FF.net! My Tumblr ID is Snowball-N-Mittens!

The first time Allen summoned _him_ he was eleven. Master Cross had once again tossed him to the wolves (well, Akumas, but still...) and he had been on the run, sweat sliding down the sides of his face as his activated Innocence slashed at one Akuma and he flipped sideways to miss another's attack. Normally, Cross would attend these 'training sessions' to make sure that he didn't accidentally end up dead (even though his master knew Allen could purify himself). This time, however, Cross had decided to ditch Allen for some more... interesting interests of his.

One red/black-ringed eye with a small gear-like glass throbbed in pain from overuse and the white-haired Exorcist-In-Training winced. Ducking into an alley while the Akuma wasn't looking, he crossed an arm over his chest to cup said eye. The other silver one squinted as tears brimmed in the corners of them. Why did Cross had to ditch him tonight, and why did his eye have to act up tonight of all nights? Silently cursing Cross' existence and his throbbing eye, the preteen took in a deep breath, wiped away the unshed tears and darted back out of the alleyway. Only to be assaulted by several Akuma he hadn't detected beforehand 

Panic welled in Allen's chest as the eleven-year-old felt very, very overwhelmed. “Please,” he begged quietly as he dodged another bullet. “Please... someone, anyone, Cross, Mana... _help!_ ” The ground underneath rumbled and Allen stumbled backwards, eyes going wide as pavement stones and a mound of dirt pushed upwards until the top of a coffin pushed out and rose, as if summoned by his pleads. Allen took a moment to observe the standing coffin – a simple white one with several silver chains wrapped tightly around it – before the chains shattered into millions of tiny silver pieces that glinted in the moonlight. 

The coffin creaked opened to reveal a man inside.

Said man looked just barely into his twenties; with short dark hair that curled at the tips, a glowing golden eye (the other was covered in bandages) and gray skin with oddly-shaped crosses on his forehead. He wore a simple white dress shirt, black dress pants and shoes. The shirt was torn in places, as were the pants, and bandages seemed to wrap around the man's neck, some on his arms and a few wrapped around his torso. Each bandage had dried black blood on them.

Stepping out of the coffin, the man blinked sleepily as the Akuma all froze, uncertain of the strange and familiar energy coming off of the man. “It's been years and the first thing I'm called for is this? Seriously?” the man griped, the lone eye glaring at the Akuma. “Shoo,” he commanded – and to Allen's shock, the Akuma immediately dispersed. “I'm a bit disappointed, how many years has it been? I thought I was supposed to...” the man trailed off as he turned and faced Allen. A gold eye blinked once, twice and his jaw dropped faintly as he looked down at the eleven-year-old. “Well, I wasn't expecting this.” The man chuckled, a grin slowly spreading across his face as he crouched to get on Allen's eye-level. “My name is Nea, and you, little one, are apparently my master.” Allen saw him glance at the bleached-looking coffin. “You might want to do something with that as well. What's your name, kid?”

“Allen,” the young boy hesitantly answered, eyes narrowing. “Who are you callin' kid? You're not too much older than me!”

The grin grew as Nea laughed. “Wanna bet?”

* * *

 The second time he called on Nea was a year later. A lot had passed in that year. To say that Master Cross had been surprised to see Nea and Allen arguing in the street with no Akuma in sight was a rather large understatement. They (Allen and Nea) agreed that if Cross hadn't been a necromancer himself, he would have had a heart attack. The look on his face had been amusing – even if they could only see half of it. A cigarette laid on the ground forgotten, one eye wider than Allen had ever seen it, and the blood had seemed to have drained from his face.

Master Cross had then devoted time to show Allen how to send Nea back and began their lessons on Necromancy.

Allen hated every second of it.

It reminded him too much of how the Earl brought back souls of loved ones, how he used the souls to his own twisted desire. Necromancy was similar, one brought back the soul of a dead one, but in their own body and not a false metal one that would then kill and replace the body of said loved one. But still, they would have to control the soul.

Yet somehow Nea was different. Allen had noticed right away that Nea was different from The Grave of Maria (Cross' own personal summon, a dead exorcist that Allen wondered once in a while if she had been one of Cross' many lovers at some point). Nea, unlike most of the dead Allen himself summoned, had his personality. Nea had argued with Allen and playfully fought with the young boy. He had shown emotions that a dead corpse shouldn't. 

It made Allen curious. Cross had banned him from summoning Nea unless it was a dire, dire, DIRE situation (when questioned, Cross had been adamant that the dire had been needed three times). Rather than wait, the white-haired boy waited for a day when he knew the redhead would be gone for a very, very long while before he summoned the white, chained coffin that contained the corpse of a young man inside.

Allen stared at it for a while, weighing the pros and cons of actually opening the coffin and bugging the man inside. In the end, his curiosity won out and small hands reached up, cupping chains and pulling them away. Links in the chain fell apart at Allen's touch and they shattered like before, before they touched the floor. The coffin lid creaked open, revealing the bandaged corpse behind it.

One golden eye opened and a large yawn escaped the man's lips as Nea stepped out of the coffin, stretching his arms above his head. After a quick glance around his gaze fell on the white-haired boy who was staring at him. “No battle for me this time?” he asked.

“No,” Allen answered.

“Then why am I here?”

Allen bit his bottom lip, uncertainty wavering through him for a moment before his courage returned and he said, “Master Cross told me that when you summon someone, you should know as much about them as you can. Seeing as how you're the one I've summoned first, I figured I should start with you.”

Nea slumped against a nearby wall (they were staying at another Inn, or rather Allen was while Cross was out) and sat on the floor. “I'm not interested in answering any questions of yours, kid. I'm a fighter, not a talker. Send me back or just let me go.”

Instantly Allen frowned. “You're not even going to tell me a little bit about you?” he asked as he moved to sit next to the corpse.

“No. What's there to really learn about a dead person? I'm dead and gone – should have stayed that way. Yet, here I am. Summoned by you.” Nea gave a faint wave of his hand, the corners of his lips turning downwards somewhat.

“It's not like I like this you know.” Allen mumbled, his own lips curling into a scowl. “In fact I hate it.”

“You what?” Nea cocked a brow. Tilting his head so he could look at the white-haired kid sitting next to him, he watched in silence as Allen seemed to shrink in on himself.

“I hate it,” Allen whispered. He tucked his knees to his chest, arms wrapping tightly around his legs. “I hate everything that Master Cross is teaching me about Necromancy. I know I need to know it so that I can learn to keep the balance, and so that I don't accidentally summon someone without knowing what could happen. I need to know this so that I can control it, but I hate it. I _hate_ it, Nea. It reminds me of what happened to Mana.”

“Mana?” The preteen could hear the surprise and hesitance that laced the dead man's tone.

“My foster father,” Allen began to explain, “was named Mana. My parents abandoned me as a baby and only the circus took me in. All because of my deformed arm, my Innocence. I couldn't use it back then, it only woke when...” Swallowing the lump that had formed in his throat, Allen opted to continue his explanation instead of thinking of that time. “Mana was a clown that joined the circus I was apart of. When he decided to leave he asked if I wanted to go with him, and I did. He named me 'Allen' and raised me from then on. When I was ten he was ran over by a carriage.” Tears gathered in the corners of silver eyes. “I... I gave in to the Earl. When he showed up offering to bring back Mana, I took it the offer. I called out Mana's name... He gave me my curse,” his voice was just a whisper, on the edge of being broken as one gloved hand placed itself against the scar, covering his eye. “And my Innocence activated. I killed him, I killed _Father.”_

“You didn't kill him.” Allen jerked his head to the side to stare at Nea, whose golden eye was staring intently down at him. “You freed him, Allen.” When the young Exorcist could only gape at him in surprise, Nea rolled his eyes and elaborated, “When an Akuma is destroyed by Innocence, it sends the soul back to the afterlife.”

“I know that,” Allen mumbled, uncertain of what Nea was trying to say.

“Stop mumbling and don't interrupt people, little master.” Nea placed a hand on Allen's head, ruffling the white-haired boy's surprisingly soft hair. “You'll find that people tend to forget what they're trying to say if you interrupt them too often – it's funny when you don't want to listen to them, now what was I saying? Ah, yes. You sent his soul back to the afterlife – heaven, hell, purgatory, who knows what. That curse of yours-” Nea tapped a finger against Allen's bloody red scar. “- makes you see Akuma's souls, correct?” At getting a nod he continued, “They're always crying, right?” He got another nod. “Do you know why they're crying?”

“No,” Allen answered slowly after a long moment of consideration. “I don't know why for sure. Isn't it because they hate you?”

“No, kid. They're crying because of their love,” Nea answered.

White brows scrunched in confusion. “Huh?”

““Why couldn't you have been stronger?” They cry. They cry because they wanted to see their loved ones happy even after they died. To see that they gave in makes them sad, Little Master,” Nea explained. “What was the last thing that your father said to you after you made him an Akuma.”

“He... He said he loved me,” Allen answered. “And he asked me to destroy him.”

“See, kid? He didn't hate you. He loved you and wanted – probably still wants wherever he is – you to be happy. To live on,” Nea said.

They sat in silence for a long while; the corpse wondering why he had taken the time to reassure his master instead of convincing the kid to send him back and the Exorcist pondering what Nea had just told him.

“Thanks, Nea,” Allen said softly. Hesitantly, he leaned against Nea's side. Unsurprisingly, the man's body was cold – a corpse's heart didn't beat and therefore did not warm the blood and give off body heat. Yet still, the presence of someone who cared (even just a little bit) was comforting.

“Hm?” Nea glanced down at the kid. “Yeah, you're welcome or whatever.”

A faint smile spread across Allen's lips, and his eyelids fluttered closed. He was tired, emotionally and magically – it took a lot to summon the dead, even his personal summon. Master Cross wouldn't be back for a few days, so he didn't need to worry about his Master seeing that he had gone against his orders and summoned Nea. Plus, if Nea was here then he didn't have to worry about Akuma – they seemed to avoid the odd corpse-man like he was the plague. A soft breath left him as he slipped off to sleep.

Meanwhile, Nea wondered how had everything ended up this way. His friend – who was de-aged and had no recollection of him before he died and was summoned as a _corpse_ of all things – had screwed up royally. Looking down at the sleeping de-aged friend of his, Nea sighed. Their plans were a long way off now, but perhaps Nea could still salvage what he could of it. It would take a long time though.

“It seems we have a very long way to go, Allen.”


	2. Chapter 2

“You're just a regular rule-breaker, aren't you?” Nea asked one evening, resting his arms and leaning against a fence post. He and his 'Little Master' – which was what he called Allen more often than not – were sitting outside of an abandoned cottage. His right eye – the one uncovered by bandages – was trained on his master, whose back was to the fence post, so he could stare straight down at what the Exorcist-In-Training was doing.

It had become a regular thing for Allen to summon the dead man whenever Master Cross was away for a while, or left Allen alone to travel onto the next town while he dealt with 'business'. Currently, the thirteen year-old was playing with a deck of cards. They were a bit worn, but still in good enough shape to play with. The rectangular cards had a black and white diamond pattern on the back, while the front of the cards counted from two – ten, plus Ace, King, Queen and Jack. There were four sets, one card for each set; Red Hearts and Diamonds, and Black Clubs and Spades.

“What do you mean by that, Nea?” Allen asked, not bothering to even glance up as he practiced his shuffling.

“Well,” Nea drawled, running a hand through his hair in a vain attempt to keep it from becoming wilder than it already was – the wind was blowing pretty harshly, the large oaks around them has several branches bending, threatening to break. Leaves were scattering everywhere and a bit of dust was blowing around on the dirt road. How Allen kept the cards from blowing away as he shuffled them, Nea didn't know.

The cottage they stopped for the evening at was hidden in the middle of the forest (Nea had joked about it being a witch's cottage when they had arrived.) The trees around them were covered in red, gold, brown, and green leaves, but most of the leaves were on the ground, signaling the beginning of the coldest season. “Right now, for a fact, you're practicing stacking the deck. Don't give me that surprised look, I cheated at poker and I was pretty good at it while I was alive, too. Plus, I'm certain that Marian has forbidden you from summoning me – you never summon me when he is around,” Nea pointed out.

“What Master Cross doesn't know won't hurt him,” Allen answered. He jerked in surprise and scowled up at the corpse when a hand lightly smacked the top of his head.

Nea tsk'ed and wagged a finger down at Allen. “But it may hurt you, Little Master,” he scolded the boy. “Sometimes adults make weird rules or rules that don't make sense, but most of the time they're for your safety.”

Allen's scowl softened, but didn't disappear as he asked, “But how can summoning you – for my own safety at night – be such a bad thing? If I don't get enough sleep, then I won't be able to focus on finding and destroying Akuma tomorrow!”

“Mmhm...” Nea gave the boy a look of disbelief. At the stubborn glare Allen gave him, the corpse gave in. “If you get hurt somehow, it's not my fault. Remember that, okay?”

“Yes Nea,” Allen mumbled, rolling his eyes.

 

“What have I told you about mumbling, kid?” Allen didn't answer and Nea sighed, closing his eye. Only the sound of the wind and of shuffling cards were heard for a while before the dark-haired man opened his eye again. “Why don't we go inside? It's getting late,” Nea said after a few more moments. “If you'd like I could teach you a few of my cheating tricks at poker, too,” he added as leverage.

“Okay,” Allen agreed rather happily. Clutching the cards tightly, he waited for Nea to hop over the fence (which the man easily did, one hand on the post) before they made their way over to the cottage. It was more like one room than an actual cottage. The one room that made up the place had a bed shoved into a corner, a table by the fireplace at the other end. There was also a bookshelf and a chest of drawers, both of them empty until Allen came. Thankfully the bed had a mattress and all it had need was blankets and sheets – something Allen was able to easily get after a few games of poker.

The two settled themselves onto this bed, Allen leaning against the stone wall while Nea sat at the foot of the bed. “Pass the cards over, Little Master,” Nea said as he reached out for the cards – which were held in Allen's disfigured hand. His eye widened faintly at seeing Allen recoil in surprise and shock when Nea touched the hand. “Kid?” Nea looked up and frowned at seeing Allen shy away, the boy's cheeks a flaming red in shame.

“Sorry,” Allen whispered. “I'm not used to people touching my hand. They usually think it's disgusting or weird or something worse...” Tears gathered in the corners of silver eyes as Allen ducked his head. “I'm sorry you had to touch it.”

“Kid, look at me.” When Allen didn't move, Nea sighed and reached out.

Allen stiffened when a cold hand was placed on top of his disfigured one, but the hand didn't flinch away like most usually did. Instead, it moved to gently hold his, giving it a light squeeze. Slowly, the boy raised his head to finally look at Nea.

The corpse was staring at him intently, and when he raised his head a ghost of a smile flickered over Nea's gray face. “Little Master,” he began, “I don't think your arm is disgusting and I never will, do you hear me? Your arm is your Innocence, and when you join the Order-” Nea had to fight back a grimace at merely mentioning that place. “-you'll find that no one there will find it disgusting as well. Even if it wasn't your Innocence, I would never find it disgusting. It's a part of you, a part of who you are, and you are far from disgusting,” the man said firmly.

Nea's lip curved upwards and with his free hand he waved at himself. “Besides, if anyone should be disgusted, it should be you. You're holding the hand of a dead man, who by the way is covered in blood and missing his eye – not that you'll ever see that hole if I can help it. So...” Nea shrugged and Allen gave a watery chuckle. “No tears, okay? I don't do tears well. Let's play some poker, shall we?”

Allen smiled widely at the other and nodded. “Are you still going to teach me your cheating ways?” he asked, raising his own free hand to wipe away the tears that had threatened to spill.

“Of course. If you're going to cheat, you have to cheat well.” Nea nodded seriously, making Allen giggle.

They were on their fourth game of poker when a flash of gold in the dark window caught Nea's attention. Holding one hand out to silence Allen, the corpse slowly stood, eye narrowing. With silent steps, Nea made his way over to the door, his whole body tense as he threw it open. The flash of gold attempted to pass him and he snagged the thing's tail before it could get further than his head.

“It's Timcanpy!”

“Timcanpy...” Nea murmured in surprise. He thought he had given the golem to the previous Allen. What was Tim doing here then?

Allen took his murmur as a question. “He's Master Cross' golem,” Allen explained. “He uses Tim to give me messages sometimes. Is that why you're here, Tim?” he asked the golem, who struggled against Nea's grip. Timcanpy nodded, flashing his teeth at Nea – who then released him in surprise – before flying over to Allen's outstretched hands.

Settling himself comfortably in the boy's hands, Tim opened his mouth wide and a hologram of Master Cross appeared and said bluntly, “ _My business is going to take longer than I thought, idiot apprentice. You're to stay at the cottage until I return, but you may go into town to get supplies. I don't care how you get the money. I'll be back in a month or two.”_

“Typical...” Allen muttered darkly as Tim closed his mouth and the hologram disappeared. “He's probably out there drinking and whoring and racking up his debts again!” The boy seemed to slump over with every word he said, a depressed aura hanging around him.

“Debts?” Nea asked, confused but amused by his master's depression before he was distracted by the golem. Timcanpy had flown out of Allen's hands and had smacked into the side of the dead man's head. A smile curved Nea's lips upwards and he held a hand out – palm facing up – to the golem. “Hello Tim, it's been a while, huh?” His smile morphed into a look of shock when the golden golem's sharp teeth embedded themselves into the side of his hand. “Ow!” Nea said, more from reflex than actually being hurt by the bite. “What was that for?” he asked, scowling at Timcanpy (who had released his hand) as he clutched the bitten hand close to his chest with the other one.

The golem flashed the corpse a toothy grin before flying up and settling into Nea's hair. The dead man sighed as Tim began to chew contently on his hair. “My, my, you've gotten moody with age, Tim. I remember when you were such a sweet golem...”

“You know Tim, Nea?” Allen asked, pulled out of his dark thoughts by the interactions between the golem and corpse.

“Know him? I created Tim,” Nea answered as he shut the door and moved to sit back down onto the bed. Allen's eyes widened and he looked at Nea in awe.

“You created Timcanpy? How? Can you teach me how to make golems? Do you know magic like Master Cross? Or is it science? Why did you never say anything? How did Master Cross get Timcanpy? Did you make him for him or did you give him, him?” Allen asked, the questions pouring rapidly from his mouth.

“Slow down, kid.” Nea looked at his master, amused at the sudden childishness Allen was showing. He could see the excited look in the boy's eyes. “To answer your first question, yes I did create Tim. No, I did not make him for Marian. I made Tim to be a personal golem, but shortly before I died I passed him on to a mutual friend of Marian's and I's – I can only assume that friend passed it on to him. I never said anything because I didn't know Tim was with you and Marian. It's a bit of both, science and magic that is. I know a little magic, but nothing on Marian's scale. I don't know if I could teach you or not. Does that answer all of your questions, Little Master?” Nea questioned, looking at the boy with amusement.

“No,” Allen responded immediately. “How come you might not be able to teach me, and did you used to be friends with Master Cross? Why do you call him Marian instead of Cross? What happened to your mutual friend?”

“I wasn't exactly friends with Marian. As I said, we had a mutual friend. I call him Marian because it annoys him, and I like annoying him. It's fun to me.” Nea shrugged and felt Timcanpy leave his hair to perch himself in Allen's snowy white. “As for possibly not being able to teach you. There are all sorts of magic; Light and Dark, Yang and Yin, Life and Death magic. Basically all three are the same, no matter what you call them. You and Marian have an affinity for Yin magic, Death magic, Dark magic, whatever you'd like to call it – because of this affinity you both can summon the dead. I, however, have an affinity for Yang magic, surprisingly and because of this I can create things like golems. There are grey areas when it comes to both magics, however, and I am not certain if giving golems life falls into that category. We'd just have to see,” Nea lectured before he frowned.

“As for our mutual friend, I am not certain what exactly happened to them.” And this was true, there were several years between the time that Nea had died and that this Allen had summoned him. If the boy had been de-aged, it must have happened nearly fourteen years ago – and it had been almost thirty-five since Nea had died. What exactly had the previous Allen done between then? It was killing Nea not knowing. “Maybe one day I'll find out what happened exactly, but for now I'll make do being with you, Little Master.”

“So what were you saying about Marian having debts?” Nea asked, and when his question wasn't answered immediately, he frowned. “... Little Master?” Nea turned his head to look at the boy and found himself smiling fondly. Allen had fallen asleep while he had been talking, his limbs were splayed across the bed, his shirt ridden up a little. He looked far more peaceful when he was sleeping, Nea noticed. He chuckled softly at the sight of the snoring child with Tim perched comfortably in Allen's hair. Carefully standing, he grabbed the blanket from the foot of the bed and Nea tossed it gently over the boy.

Leaning down, Nea whispered into the unconscious Allen's ear, “Sleep well, Little Master.”

* * *

Nea breathed out slowly, enjoying the sight of his breath fogging in the cold air as he leaned against the cottage. Snow covered the ground now, as it had for several days. With how sunny the day before had been, Nea had worried a little about the project he had been working on in secret at night, but with the new day had come gray clouds and colder winds. Good, the surprise he had planned for Allen would still be there. It had been three months now since Marian had told Allen to stay put and the General still hadn't returned. Allen wouldn't admit it out loud, but Nea knew that the boy was starting to worry about his Master, and while Nea was glad to be free from his sleep most of the nights, it was starting to annoy him that Marian had seemingly either forgotten his Master, or had deserted him purposefully.

A small part of him doubted that though. Both he and Marian had cared a lot for the previous Allen, and while Marian mistreated this one a bit, Nea could tell by the stories Allen told of him (and boy, did he have quite a few) that the redhead cared for this one a lot as well.

“Aren't you getting cold?” Speaking of Allen...

Turning to face his summoner, who stood just outside of the door (Allen was getting stealthier, he hadn't caught the sound of the door opening or closing) Nea shook his head. “I'm dead, kid. I don't get cold or hot anymore. Not really, anyways. I can still feel the heat and the cold, but it no longer bothers me. I don't need a coat like yours to keep me warm.” He gestured to the new winter coat Allen had bought himself a few months back when the snow had begun to stick.

“Oh, I forgot,” Allen mumbled sheepishly, ducking his head like a scolded child. Sometimes it was really hard to remember that Nea was dead – besides the gray skin, torn clothing, bandages and blood, it really did seem like Nea was a living person most of the time.

“I know you do, kid.” Nea shook his head, lips twitching just slightly. Sometimes it was hard to forget he was dead as well. There were days that he missed civilization, missed walking through towns and missed the sun most of all. Most of the time Allen summoned him during the night or at twilight, it was rare that Nea saw days like today, and while it was cloudy, at least it was daytime. “There's something I want to show you, Little Master.”

“Hm?” Allen raised his head and silver hues widened as he found the corpse grinning widely, just in front of him and Nea's hands covered those pure silver eyes. “Nea!” Allen exclaimed in surprise, flinching away from the icy touch of Nea's bare fingers.

“Just wait a minute and trust me, kid,” Nea said. “We're going to be walking for a little while, 'kay?”

“Why?” the boy asked, even as he let Nea move behind him and he let the other carefully guide him away from the cottage.

“It's a surprise, Little Master. I can't tell you, but I can show you. Which, is what I am trying to do.”

The snow crunched underneath their feet and Allen shivered as snow began to fall, tiny flakes sticking to his hair. The woods were oddly silent, nothing like the autumn when the birds and squirrels and other creatures had been rushing to gather food for the oncoming winter. Allen himself had gone to town and bought enough to keep himself fed in case he got snowed in. It was a bit eerie, the silence that is. Winter had a habit of taking away things. Sound seemed to be among them.

A hand brushing the snow out of his hair pulled Allen out of his musing and he noticed they had stopped. After the hand disappeared he felt his hood get tugged up and over his head. Almost immediately his body began to warm a little and they resumed walking. “Almost there, Little Master,” Nea said after they had walked in silence for a little longer. “And... here.” They stopped again and the boy felt Nea move from behind him to in front of him again, his hand still covering both of Allen's eyes. “Are you ready kid, for your surprise?” Nea asked and Allen found himself nodding. “Okay then, here!” The hand was suddenly removed and silver hues blinked once, then twice before Allen felt his breath leave him in awe as he took in the sight in front of him.

In front of him was a clearing, and the clearing was filled with snowmen and snow-women, snow-children and snow-pets, each snow-person or snow-pet differed from the next. Flowers – saved from the snow by the thick tree branches above them – circled the clearing; brightly colored orchids, blue glory of the snows, white jasmines and orange lilies. Beautiful Christmas roses bloomed as well, but unlike the other flowers they were integrated among the snow-people.

It was stunning, the snow glittering as the sun peeked out from the clouds, but snow continued to fall among them. He had never seen such a sight in his life, and he doubted he would again. Allen turned his gaze to Nea, who stood just off to the side, and the man grinned when Allen tried to say something, but couldn't find the words to say.

Tossing out his arms and waving them at the snow-family behind him, Nea exclaimed brightly, “Happy Fourteenth Birthday, Little Master!”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Did anybody notice the Easter-egg I left in this chapter? Care to guess? Lemme know what you think down in the comments below please! owo


	3. Chapter 3

“Hey, Master, will you teach me magic?”

The glass of wine that had been halfway to Cross' mouth paused. A long, gloved finger began to caress the rim of the glass as the redhead turned to face his apprentice, a bit surprised by the fourteen-year-old's question. “Why?”

“Eh?” Allen tilted his head, looking at his master with confusion. There was a lot of ways to interpret Cross' “Why?”; sometimes it truly was hard to get a read on the General.

“Why would you ask? Why should I?” Cross elaborated, his eyes trained on his white-haired apprentice. Curiosity was getting the better of him. It wasn't often that Allen asked him for something (other than to please stop racking up so many debts).

“Well, you taught me necromancy. That's just one branch of magic, right? I've seen you use other kinds of magic,” Allen said. “I know you _had_ to teach me necromancy, so I could control my natural magic, but... I've been curious about magic since, well, the first time I've seen you use it. I've been wanting to ask, although I knew I needed to learn everything else first; necromancy and being an Exorcist. As for why you should...” Here Allen trailed off, giving Master a little bit of a sheepish smile. “I don't have a reason for you to teach me other than to sate my own curiosity.”

“Idiot apprentice,” Cross drawled, setting down his glass onto the tabletop with almost a longing look. He wouldn't be drinking it as soon as he'd like, it seemed. “I'm only going to tell you once, so listen closely. Magic is a complicated thing, not something that can be learned overnight or easily. It will take you years to master some spells even beginner ones, others you may have an affinity to, like necromancy, will take less. You understand this, yes?”

“Yes, Master Cross,” Allen answered. His tone was the most serious that Cross could remember hearing from the boy.

“Good. To begin with, there are two sides of magic – Yin and Yang.”

* * *

A large yawn escaped Nea's mouth as he stepped out and into the night. One hand lifted to rub his remaining eye as the white coffin disappeared back into the ground. A soft voice (one that hadn't deepened too much with maturity) greeted him from slightly ahead on the road, “Hi, Nea.”

“Little Master,” the corpse returned the greeting, taking a moment to look up at the dark sky – no clouds tonight, just the large white moon and tiny shining dots that were the stars visible. The corner of Nea's mouth tugged upwards as he turned to face Allen. “It's been a while, has Mari...” he trailed off in shock at seeing the boy and his expression turned serious. “Is your head okay, kid?” Nea asked, concerned at seeing the bandages wrapped around the boy's head. There was evidence of dried blood, as small red and black spots were present on the white cloth. “What happened? Akuma?”

“No,” Allen admitted, his shoulders slumping as he grimaced. “Master happened.”

Nea stared blankly at Allen for a moment, uncertain of what he had heard. What did Marian do? Whack Allen upside the head with a hammer? Why would Marian hurt Allen? Okay, that part was a bit of a stupid question, but Marian had never done something that showed like this before.“What happened?”

“He's decided that my training is over. I'm an Exorcist now; just without the Black Order's formalities. But to get the formal title as an Exorcist, I have to go to the Black Order's Headquarters. According to Master, normally we'd both have to go, but he hates the place so...” Allen shuddered again.

“So?” Nea prompted, although he wondered if Marian hating that place had something to do with Maria's death. He had known the Exorcist, back before she had died. Well, Nea had actually died first, so he knew no details of her death, but he did know that Marian had loved her very dearly.

He was brought out of his inner musings by Allen continuing, “He asked if I knew where Headquarters is, then told me he'd leave me Tim-” Allen waved a hand at the golem, who was once again chewing contently on Nea's hair. “-and that he'd sent a letter to this Komui guy, then that I should get going as soon as I woke up. I actually asked him if he was considering leaving me behind.” Allen laughed weakly. “He told me he hates the place, raised a hammer high above me and the next thing I know I'm waking up in a pool of my own blood.”

_'I'm going to **kill** him_ .' Nea decided, his expression turning dark. ' _Cross Marian, you are a dead man_ .'

“Nea?” Allen gave his friend a worried look and suddenly felt a little sorry for his master – just a little. “Don't kill him, Nea.”

“Why not?” the corpse asked, pulling himself out of his thoughts of ways to painfully kill the red-haired Exorcist. Timcanpy – who had been sitting on Allen's head – flew over to Nea and settled into his hair, trying to soothe his previous master.

“Because, despite being a true demon in flesh and blood, he's actually not too bad. He took _me_ in after all and he could have easily passed me onto the Order, but he trained me instead. So, no killing Master Cross.” Allen wagged a finger at the pout Nea gave him. “No killing! Maiming, however, is allowed.” He turned away as a dark grin spread across the latter's face. “C'mon, I'd like to hopefully find some sort of village tonight.”

“Where are we anyways?” Nea asked as they walked, only pausing for a moment or two to observe some kind of snake in a nearby tree before he took a few hurried steps to catch up to his master.

“India,” Allen answered hesitantly.

His hesitance made Nea raise a brow. Why would Allen be so hesitant to tell him where unless... He bit the inside of his cheek to keep from smirking as he asked, “Where in India?”

“Somewhere...” Was Allen's mumbled response, a dark flush spreading across his cheeks.

“Don't mumble,” Nea scolded, almost on instinct. “You've gotten lost again, haven't you?” He didn't bother trying to stop his lips from curving into a smirk at seeing the glare Allen sent him, which only confirmed Nea's suspicion. Allen truly had a horrible sense of direction, despite his fantastic memory.

Silence fell between the two, as it often did when they were walking. The trees on both sides of them grew tall, and occasionally a pair of glowing eyes could be seen far off in the dark. Part of them hoped it wasn't a tiger or something of the like. Nothing that would eat them, hopefully. The wind was nonexistent so the sounds of the wildlife around them was quite clear, with the bugs and birds making their noise.

“What's it like, Nea?” Allen's voice broke the silence a few hours later.

“What's what like, Little Master?” Nea tilted his head to the side, a bit surprised by the other's sudden question.

“When you're in your coffin, waiting to be summoned. What is it like?” Allen asked. He had been wondering for a while now, what it was like. He tried to imagine it, but nothing he had read (or Master Cross had told him) could actually tell him the feeling of it.

Nea paused, his lips curving downwards into a thoughtful frown. “Well, I suppose you can say it's like being in a deep sleep,” he began to explain when Allen cut in playfully.

“Is that why you're always yawning when you step out?”

“Yes, now hush Little Master. I'm talking now,” Nea 'shushed' the boy before continuing, “As I said, it's like being in a deep sleep. Yet, I do not dream. I can't feel or see anything either. My body feels bogged down like it does when one is rather tired. But time does seem to pass quickly. One minute I'm just falling 'asleep' and the next I'm stepping out into the moonlight yawning.”

“I see,” Allen said softly. Though he didn't really. He supposed it was something only one being necromanced could know. He hoped that one day it wouldn't be him. Now he felt a little bad for Nea...

“Of course you do, Little Master.” Nea chuckled.

“My name is Allen,” the boy corrected, stopping to give Nea a faint scowl. “Al-len! Do you have to call me little?”

“Yes.” Nea deadpanned before smirking. “You used to like me calling you 'Little Master'.” He sighed dramatically. “Oh how they grow up, don't they Tim?” he said sadly, as if in mourning, to the golem.

“Nea!”

Chuckling, the corpse said, “The day you grow taller than me, Little Master, is the day I'll stop calling you little, deal?” The Allen before this one hadn't grown taller than him, even fully grown Nea had been a few inches taller. This Allen was smaller than the one before, therefore there was little chance of him growing to be taller than Nea, and the man knew this. Tim did too, as the little golem started to shake in amusement.

“Deal,” Allen said instantly. He was still young, he still had some growth spurts to get! (He certainly ate enough.)

Behind Allen, Nea grinned. ' _Poor Little Master. This is the one bet you'll lose for certain._ '

* * *

Their trek through India lasted three weeks, they caught a boat from there to China. Nea suggested that Allen visit Anita, but the boy declined. If he knew his Master like he thought he did (and he did), then Master Cross would be visiting the beautiful woman. With his poker skills, a skill he had refined against many opponents and Nea, it was easy for Allen to get a train ticket to China. From China he caught another train as far as he could out to Africa, then walked (with Nea at night) until he hit a port and took a boat to Europe. His fifteenth birthday came and passed during this trip, and it was quite a few months more before they landed in Europe.

The first day he spent in Europe he stayed in town, refreshing his supplies and Allen stayed at an Inn that night with what little pocket change he had leftover (which wasn't all that little, actually) the next morning bright and early he set out for the Black Order. It was late in the evening when he decided to stop at flower-filled meadow for the night and he dubbed the place safe enough (and far enough from the main road) to summon Nea.

Taking a deep breath, Allen focused his magic as he sang out softly, “ _Come and play a song, won't you, beloved Musician of mine?_ ” Internally, Allen still found his 'summoning chant' odd. Master Cross had explained it though, that it differed for each Necromancer. Cross himself only had to call on their names to summon them, but the few (as few as he could, ixnay Nea) Allen had summoned he had to 'chant'. Usually the chant had something to do with the person's past. (Allen had never bothered to ask Nea about it though, and he wondered occasionally if he ever would.)

The simple white coffin bound in silver chains rose from the ground, pushing the loose dirt away. The chains shattered and coffin's door creaked open (Allen made a mental note to buy something for that) and Nea stepped out, giving his usual yawn.

“Are you finally on dry land again, Little Master?” he asked as Timcanpy took his usual spot on Nea's head, little tail curling around Nea's bandaged neck.

“Have been for at least a full day,” the white-haired Exorcist informed him as he sat down in the middle of the flowers and focused on the coffin, watching as it closed before disappearing back into the ground until he would summon it again early the next morning. “It's nice to not being rocked around constantly. The storms were dreadful, too.” He turned his head to the side, stretching out his hand to caress one of the red poppies near him. The meadow was full of them and of white poppies as well.

As he stretched his arms above his head, Nea took in the sight of the flower-filled meadow; the poppies almost glowing in the light of the full moon. It was a breathtaking view. The soft wind that blew through the meadow made the flowers bend slightly. If the poppies had a smell, the wind would be bringing it with it (it was at times like this that Nea wished it did have a smell.) “Poppies, kid?” he couldn't help but find himself asking, “Of all the places to stay at night, you chose a place with red poppies?”

“What's wrong with red poppies?” Allen asked, turning his head to frown up at the corpse. It disappeared though when he saw the relaxed, gentle smile on Nea's face.

“Nothing at all, kid. In fact, they're my favorite flower,” Nea informed him, his gaze still on the wide field in front of them. ' _Red and white poppies, huh? The white ones were_ _ **his**_ _favorite, too...'_

A curious look spread across Allen's face as he tilted his head back down, looking over the field of poppies. “Really?”

“They sure are, kid.” Silence fell between the two for a long moment before- “Little Master?” Nea quirked a brow quizzically as Allen slowly stood, a lone red poppy held by one hand. Allen gave Nea a bright smile as he leaned forward and tucked the poppy's stem into Nea's buttonhole. The dead man stared in surprise as Allen smoothed the man's shirt best he could.

“There.” Allen stepped back, looked Nea over critically before the white-haired young man nodded, apparently satisfied. “Not my best work, but you look more presentable now."

Nea snorted softly, a half-smile tugging up a corner of his lips. “Presentable for what, may I ask, Little Master?”

“For the Black Order, of course,” Allen said, as if it was obvious. “I refuse to go alone, who knows what they'll do to a poor, newly minted, traumatized Exorcist.”

“Traumatized?”

Allen stared blankly at the other. “Have you met Master Cross?” he asked in his most serious tone.

Nea cracked up, a laugh escaping his lips. “I have met Marian, yes. Traumatized doesn't exactly describe what that man has done to you.”

“And what would you say he's done to me, Nea?” It was Allen's turn to cock a brow.

Nea chuckled again as he said, “He's turned you into a demon like himself. Although without the drinking, smoking and whoring. You've got a dark side, kid. Have you seen yourself play poker? You grow demonic horns, demonic!” Nea exclaimed dramatically. “Not to mention he's taught you Dark Magic!”

“There's nothing wrong with Dark Magic, Nea, you know that.”

Gently plucking Tim out of his hair, the corpse held the golem in his hands, looking at it mourningly. “Nothing wrong with Dark Magic, he says. We've lost him, Tim, our poor Little Master is a goner. I feel very, very sorry for the Black Order. They'll have to deal with _him_.” He pretended to shudder.

“Nea,” Allen huffed lightly.

“Yes, kid?” Nea turned towards Allen with a bright, sassy smile.

“Your being is made from sarcasm and sass, isn't it?” Allen asked, rolling his eyes, though not unkindly. Nea was often sarcastic, but more in a friendly way than not – Allen knew that, but if others heard some of the conversations between the two that had them being sarcastic with each other, they'd thought the two were more like rivals than friends.

Nea smirked playfully, replacing Tim as he turned towards the young man. “Actually, Little Master, I'm made from sarcasm, sass and _sin._ ”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you all enjoyed the chapter! Just one more until we get to the Black Order!


	4. Chapter 4

“I made friends with a police officer today, err, yesterday.” Was the first thing out of Allen's mouth after he had summoned Nea.

The summoned corpse in question cocked a brow as he yawned, stretching his arms above his head (more of a habit than actually needing to stretch.) “No, “Hello Nea, how are you tonight?” or the simple,“Hey Nea.” at all? I'm hurt, kid.” Nea shot Allen a pout, placing a hand dramatically over his heart.

Allen rolled his eyes fondly. “I know how you're doing, Nea.”

Nea pretended to look affronted. “You don't know everything about me, Little Master! I might be doing bad, or hurting, or something else besides tired and amused.”

“And sassy, don't forget sassy,” Allen said sarcastically. He gave a laugh as he ducked the half-hearted punch to the arm Nea threw at him. “What? You can't say you're not sassy. After all, you're made of, 'Sarcasm, sass and sin!'” He grinned at the corpse as he began down the cobblestone road, his suitcase in one hand. The moon above was full, small stars twinkled here and there. There was no wind tonight, the only sounds heard was that of the babbling brook on one side of the path, the beating of Timcanoy's clay wings and the noises insets made. The occasional owl hooted from the trees nearby.

Nea rolled his eyes, a small part of him regretting telling the kid that a few months ago. “You made friends with a police officer?” he asked, attempting to change the subject as he followed silently after his master.

Allen nodded, his grin fading slightly into a smile. “Yeah. It started with Timcanpy-” he waved a hand at the golem, who was flying in circles above them. “- getting eaten by a cat-"

“Again?” Nea cut Allen off with a scowl directed at the troublesome golem. “Really, Tim? Do you do it on purpose or something?”

“I think he's got the curiosity of one,” Allen muttered as Tim smacked the back of Nea's head with his tail before settling in the man's hair. “Why he even goes near them...” He shook his head before continuing, “He got eaten by a cat, then the cat ran into this church at the edge of a town-”

“No name?”

“I wasn't paying attention, was a bit busy chasing the cat.” Allen gave Nea an unamused look. Nea grinned back. “And the church I was able to grab the cat – but the cat had a tag along. Sort of? There were these police officers, one of them – my new friend – had picked up the cat and when I had grabbed it she came along.”

“You didn't see her?” Nea asked skeptically.

“Well... I wasn't paying much attention to the surroundings, and I was surrounded by a flock of bats the other officer had awoken with a scream when the cat brushed up against him.”

“Ah.” Nea nodded. “Go on, Little Master.” He took pleasure in seeing the slight twitch Allen gave at being called little.

“She cuffed me.” The white-haired Exorcist chuckled faintly at the memory while his companion snorted in amusement. “Moa – that's her name – then proceeded to tell me that the town was thought of as cursed and then asked me what I was doing there and why...”

“Cursed?” Nea hummed, looking over at Allen thoughtfully. His gaze landed on the boy's red scar before he turned his gaze back to the road.

“Yeah. The church's pastor's wife – Moa's sister – was killed in an accident there-”

“And the Earl paid a visit,” Nea concluded.

Allen nodded. “Yes. Pastor Marc – or Mrs. Claire really, killed people who visited the church. They'd vanish-”

“Leaving nothing but piles of clothes and bullet holes.”

“Yeah.” Allen nodded again. “The townspeople started calling the town cursed because of this. Moa told me she doesn't believe in curses though. She was pretty upset at finding out about Akuma, especially when her sister killed her fellow policemen. Moa's taken up the position of temporary-Chief, until a new one can be appointed properly.”

It was Nea's turn to nod. They walked a few minutes in silence before- “I had a twin brother when I was alive,” Nea said suddenly, his lips quirking upwards when Allen stumbled in surprise. The white-haired Exorcist stopped in the middle of the road and turned his head to stare at the corpse in surprise. Ever since Allen had asked him about his life those few years ago, the man had avoided the topic of his life like the Akuma avoided him.

“What?” Allen asked, staring dumbly at Nea.

“I used to have a twin brother,” Nea repeated, amused by the stunned look Allen was giving him. Apparently the young man had never thought that he'd tell him something like that. “We were close, growing up. He was often sickly, but he adored music. Our mother used to play the piano for us, and she taught me when she could. I was a natural and picked it up quickly. He loved listening to me play,” Nea recalled, a faint smile adorning his lips as he talked about his brother. It vanished, however, when he continued, “We didn't know our, ah, distant family growing up, and when we were mostly grown they approached us. We got along, well, he more so than I. I was a bit of an outcast, honestly. I didn't mind as long as by brother loved me... And then things changed. His second personality took a liking to the family, and they to him.”

“Second personality?” Allen's tone took on a curious nature.

“Mmhm. There are originally thirteen members of our family that develop these second personalities. They say that those who do are reincarnations of those who had been before – as they had the memories of the original souls. These old memories sometimes threaten to swallow a person's personality whole – it nearly did my brother, but didn't really touch me. You see, my brother and I both have the same second personality, something that never happens.” Nea chuckled sadly. “They do say that twins are half of each other's soul...”

He shook his head to clear it before continuing. “I made the thirteen fourteen, and the others who had been 'swallowed' by their original memories didn't like it and shunned me, while loving my brother. As I said, I didn't care as long as my brother loved me still, but our original memories started to consume him, the others encouraged this...”

Allen glanced over at Nea at hearing his tone darken and a shiver ran down his spine at the look on the corpse's face. Rage was the most prominent emotion, hatred that Allen had never felt nor seem before, and hoped never to again. He turned his head quickly and listened to Nea continue on, “They encouraged his psycho babble of needing to 'be one' again. One evening, while in one of his 'psycho' moods, he attacked me.” A glance at Nea told him the hatred was pushed back, the man's sadness returned. “I fought back, defensively of course – I'd never hurt my brother... But the next thing I know, I'm lying against a wall, bleeding out. The mutual friend of Marian's and I's was telling me to use him, to house my soul, my memories, in his body, but... Something went wrong, I suppose.”

Nea shrugged, turning his head to give Allen a grin. Allen noticed it didn't quite reach his eyes. “Because the next thing I remember after that is waking up to a poor, little white-haired kid being attacked by Akuma. I was never thanked for that, by the way.” Nea sniffed.

Allen rolled his eyes playfully, a sadness to them as well. “And it'll be longer before you get it.” Nea gave a quite chuckle.

“I know my brother is alive, and a part of me knows that the memories have finally consumed him... I want my brother back. I want to find a way to get him back, but I'm stuck here with you, kid,” his tone came out a bit harsher than he meant for it to, and he felt a bit guilty at seeing Allen flinch, but a smaller part of him (one he didn't want to admit having) felt pleasure.

“Oh...” Silence fell between them for a long time. “Hey, Nea?” Allen said suddenly.

“Yeah, kid?”

“I'm sorry.”

Nea paused, his eye widening in surprise as Allen turned to face him, the kid's emotions was clear on his face – there was no pity, just understanding. Allen knew what it was like to lose someone dearly, even if it was in a different way than Nea – his brother was as good as dead to him, but a small spot inside of Nea's cold dead heart still held hope.

Gold looked into silver and Nea smiled sadly, apologetically. “Me too, Little Master... Me too...”

* * *

“I met the Earl again,” Allen said one evening, as if explaining the holes in his clothing and why his arm was in a sling as Nea stared at him, his yawn halted.

“What?!” Nea started, his one eye widening.

“Yeah, he summoned a bunch of Akuma nearby and had them attack me. I destroyed them with Cross Grave and he left shortly afterwards, with the promise that we'll never be able to stop him.” Silver eyes rolled.

“That explains the holes, but how did you get your left arm hurt?” Nea asked, pushing the thoughts of the Earl aside for at the moment, instead concern spread across his features as he stepped near Allen, fussing over the injured arm in question.

“I was shot.” At the alarmed look the corpse gave him, the boy elaborated, “By Akuma bullets. I was protecting a friend – a kid named John. His father works for the Order and John's been reading a lot of his work, especially about Akuma and the Earl. The Earl was actually there for John, his friend Leo's mom died and-”

“Leo was turned into an Akuma,” Nea finished, his expression turning grave as Allen nodded. “Did the Earl recognize you?”

“Yes, but only after he saw my curse.” Allen's hand rose, his fingers brushing against the pentagram as he spoke. “He recognized me as Allen Walker, the kid who turned his father into an Akuma. He then proceeded to attack me and John with the horde of Akuma. Crown Clown and I-” He raised his uninjured arm – his Innocence – proudly. “-took them down with Cross Grave.” Here Allen's smile turned a bit sheepish. “After the Earl disappeared, I may have passed out from blood loss...”

Nea resisted the urge to smack his forehead and instead scrubbed a hand over his face. “We have such a troublesome Master, don't we, Tim?” He turned his head to look at the golem that was settled on his shoulder.

“Hey!” Allen protested a bit indignantly. He knew he got into trouble a bit, but it wasn't that bad...

“Not just Akuma, but Marian's debt collectors, people he swindles in poker. He constantly gets lost, doesn't pay much attention to his surroundings while in thought...” Nea continued on, ignoring Allen's protest. The little golden golem dipped its head in agreement with each thing Nea listed.

“You two are the troublemakers!” Allen accused, pointing a finger in their direction.

“Who? Us?” Nea shot his Little Master the most innocent look he could manage – the white-haired boy snorted in amusement at seeing it. “I sleep most of the time in a coffin buried six feet under,” the corpse pointed out. “You and Tim are the only ones I interact with. If either of us are the troublemaker, it's Tim. He's the one who gets eaten by ca- ow!” Nea scowled at the golem, who had just bit him.

“At least Tim can't talk,” Allen mumbled.

“Little Master!” Nea said exasperatingly, clutching his hand dramatically as he slumped his shoulders.

“I know, I know. No mumbling.” Silver hues rolled. “You've told me six-hundred, ninety-four times.”

“Aww, you kept track.” Nea pretended to swoon as Timcanpy settled into Allen's hair. If golems could glare, he would be at his maker.

Allen shook his head. “You claim I'm the troublemaker...”

* * *

“That's it,” Allen said clearly, just stopping himself from mumbling. His gaze was trained on the dark, looming castle in the distance. “That's the Black Order... I think.”

“You think?” Nea chuckled at Allen. He grinned when the white-haired boy sent him an annoyed look. “You're prone to getting lost, Little Master. I wouldn't be surprised if that wasn't the Black Order, but I'm certain it is,” he added reassuringly at seeing Allen slump a bit.

“Yeah.” Allen straightened, looking at the castle with a bit of hesitance and uncertainty. Which Nea of course noticed.

“Something the matter, Little Master?” the corpse asked, shoving his hands into his pockets.

“This is going to be goodbye for a while...” Allen admitted quietly. “Master Cross warned me not to do any necromancy around anyone from the Black Order, or even mention it really. Same goes for magic, but... It's going to be weird not having you around so much anymore, Nea.” He had gotten used to having the man as a traveling companion, as a friend, as family...

A smile spread across Nea's face as he took a step closer to Allen, lightly flicking the young man on the side of the head. “Don't think of it as a goodbye, Little Master. Think of it more as a “I'll see you soon,” okay? You'll see me sooner than you think, and hopefully in a good way. I know you you're not easy to kill, but don't go and die on me just yet, okay?” He grinned at Allen, who returned the grin with a smile of his own.

“Of course,” Allen promised. Closing his eyes, took a breath to steady himself before opening them and his smile returned. “I'll see you soon, Nea.” The white coffin rose from the ground behind Nea and creaked open. Nea gave a yawn before chucking and before the coffin could claim him, he stepped forward and his arms wrapped around Allen's smaller body, and the boy stiffened in surprise.

“See you soon, Little Master.” Nea released Allen, took a few steps back and into the coffin, his eyes slipping closed and the coffin's top closed. Silver chains flew up from the dark hole in the ground and wrapped themselves tightly around the coffin, pulling it back under. Before Allen knew it, the coffin containing his best friend disappeared, the hole in the ground covering itself.

Allen's smile flickered, but it didn't die as Timcanpy perched himself into Allen's hair. The young man's gaze once again turned to the looming castle in the distance. A glint of determination entered his eyes. “Black Order... I'm on my way.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you all enjoyed the chapter! Next chapter begins the Black Order Arc! Look forward to it! I am! owo


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally! I meant to have this chapter up yesterday, but a plague of internet issues have been messing with us. We think it might be the modem, but not certain at this point. Personally, with having checked pretty much everything, I think it's our providers' issue (we've had it before with other internet providers) but I really hope it stops soon.
> 
> Also, just so you guys know, I'm aiming to upload a chapter every week on either Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday! So look out for chapters on those days!
> 
> Thank you all so very much for all the reviews! I'm really glad you're all enjoying it so far! I hope you continue to! :)
> 
> So enjoy!
> 
> See you soon!
> 
> I don't down D. Gray-Man. If I did, we'd know if Cross is actually alive or not! Ineedtoknow...

Allen stared up the side of the cliff, an unreadable expression on his face. ' _Did they really have to build it on top of a mountain?'_ the white-haired boy wondered. Suppressing a sigh, he sat his suitcase down and began to set up the straps, rolling up the sleeves of his suit.

 

Master Cross would kill him if he didn't show up to the Order looking nothing but his best – the man hated the place but he still had a reputation to keep.

 

Turning towards his golem, he said, “Tim, I'm going to climb up. I know you know there's a way up without having to climb, but wouldn't it be a little suspicious if I used the secret entrance instead of finding another way?”

 

Allen could feel rather than see Timcanpy's unhappy look. The corners of his lips curved upwards at feeling the golem's concern. “Fly beside me, all right? If I look like I'm about to fall, grow a bit bigger and keep me steady.” At getting Tim's nod, Allen slipped the belts over his shoulders and clipped them into place. He then muttered a few, but very complex and long, words under his breath before looking up at the cliff. “All right, let's go.” He gave a determined nod before heading over to the cliff and (after getting proper hand and foot holds) began to climb.

 

It got taxing quite quickly. Allen found himself having a harder and harder time finding hand and foot holds. However, he only found himself slipping twice (he was able to get a better hold) and once a rock he had braced a foot against crumbled under his weight. Luckily Timcanpy managed to fly underneath his foot quickly, giving Allen the boost he needed to climb to his next hold.

 

Slowly the two made their way to the top, and Allen was grateful he remembered to cast a spell that would keep the dirt off of him as he climbed. When he finally pulled himself over the edge of the cliff and onto the grass, Allen crawled a little ways before flopping onto his back, looking up at the large, dark and foreboding castle. Relief flooded through him that he had _finally_ made it but at the same time - “Are you sure this is it, Timcanpy?”

 

Allen ducked when the golem made to smack him with its tail. “Sorry! Sorry!” He tilted his head, frowning curiously up at the castle still. “Talk about ominous. Master's told me stories, but still...” Allen shook his head and stood, pretending to brush dust from his clothing as he bent forward and muttered the counter-spell to the one he had cast earlier. He had seen the golems flying around, and he dared not actually mutter the spell in view of one of them, in case they were recording.

 

Undoing the straps to his suitcase, Allen slipped them off of him and he sat the case down as he rolled his sleeves back down. Straightening his suit, he glanced over at the golden golem. “We might as well stop stalling and head over.” With a faint smile, the boy picked up the suitcase and headed towards the gate.

 

“Excuse me!” Allen called out as he reached the gate, which were two large iron doors with black crosses on them. He glanced, puzzled, at the large head-shaped... thing, at the center of the gate. The white-haired teen took a moment to look around before continuing, “My name is Allen Walker. I'm here by the way of Father Cross Marian's referral. I would like to request a meeting with the head staff of the Order.”

 

One of the black, somewhat oddly-shaped golems flew up to him and he looked at it curiously, waiting for an answer. “Please get a physical from the gatekeeper behind you,” someone on the other side instructed.

 

“Huh?” White brows furrowed and Allen turned to face the... face? “Hello,” he called up to it kindly. He resisted the urge to jump away as the head suddenly leaned in closely, its eyes opening wide and beams of light shot out of them, scanning him with some odd kind of magic. So the being was magic, interesting... Probably Yang magic, as most things amazing seemed to be. Allen bit back a pout at the thought before-

 

“He's out!” the gatekeeper screamed.

 

“What?!” Allen shouted in surprise, this time actually flinching away from the large gray head as it continued to scream.

 

“He's bugged! He's cursed by the pentacle on his forehead! He's out! Out! The pentacle is the mark of an Akuma! He's one of the Millennium Earl's men!”

 

“Excuse me?!” Allen's cheeks flushed red angrily, his anger overtaking his shock and horror. “I may be cursed but there's no way in _hell_ I-” he was cut off as the shadow of a person loomed over him. Allen jerked his head up and silver hues met dark blue.

 

A young samurai (they looked only a few years older than Allen, and he couldn't tell in this light if they were female or male) had jumped from somewhere above in the castle and was falling towards him. The hilt of a katana held in one hand and the sheath clenched tightly in the other; the moonlight above them showed their exotic features, their long dark hair was pulled back into a high ponytail and they were scowling. The light wind that was blowing caused the young samurai's hair to fan out, their coat billowing behind them as they landed on the gate. “You've got a lot of nerve coming here alone, Akuma,” the samurai's voice growled out lowly, deadly intent dripping from his tone.

 

So they were male. Allen's gaze looked over them appreciatively. He certainly made a pretty male with his softer features, but they were no where as near as soft as his own. Bandages were wrapped around the other male's chest, which were shown off as the samurai's coat was open. He was obviously very fit too, if those muscles were anything to go by...

 

Allen pulled himself out of his musings and replied hastily, “You've got it all wrong! There's been some misunderstan-” He reacted without thinking, one of his stronger invisible shields was spelled into place as the samurai jumped at him, sword drawn.

 

Silver hues widened in shock as the samurai's sword sliced easily through his shield and Allen quickly activated his Innocence, holding it front of himself for protection. A surprised noise left his throat at feeling the sword slice through Crown Clown and Allen winced in pain. Looking down at his activated arm his jaw dropped slightly at seeing the slash the other's Innocence had left. ' _Not only did he slice through one of my shields, but he injured Crown Clown?! Akuma bullets cannot make even a single dent, but one slice of his sword wrecks it? What the hell?! That katana must be Innocence too. I didn't know that they could injure each other?'_

 

In his musings, Allen nearly missed the samurai speaking, “Hey you... What's with that arm?” The samurai was looking at him in confusion.

 

Allen's lips curved downwards. “It's an Anti-Akuma weapon. I'm an Exorcist.”

 

The dark-haired man stared. “What...” He turned sharply and Allen bit back at chuckle at seeing the dark glare he turned against the gate. “Gatekeeper!” the teenager roared suddenly, making Allen jump just slightly.

 

“But well, you know!” the gatekeeper stammered. “How am I supposed to tell if I can't see his insides? What are we going to do if he's an Akuma? He's got a pentacle!”

 

“I'm human! I know I'm cursed and all but honest to God, I'm still human!” Allen insisted, smacking a hand against the gate, ignoring the thing's protests.

 

“Che. No matter...” Allen turned his attention back to the samurai just in time to see the katana begin to glow with another attack. “We'll know for certain once we see his insides. I'll gut you with my 'Mugen'.”

 

' _So it is Innocence! He's an Exorcist as well!'_ Another thing popped into Allen's head and he deactivated Crown Clown, holding out his hands in pleading. “Wait! Seriously, hold on a minute! I swear to God I'm not your enemy! Master Cross should have sent a letter of recommendation!” Allen didn't dare to twitch, his gaze trained on the tip of the katana just stopped just centimeters from his head. Sweat dripped down the side of his face and a stronger, half-thought shield spell twisted in the air in front of him, waiting for Allen to finish it.

 

“From the General? A letter of recommendation?” the samurai questioned.

 

Allen nodded just slightly. “Yes! He sent a letter of recommendation. Master addressed it to someone named Komui!”

 

Silence fell for a long moment before the little black golem next to the samurai's head said in a man's voice, “Kanda! Cease your attack!”

 

A few minutes later (but what felt like an eternity) the gatekeeper stammered, “Open the gate?” Allen nearly sighed in relief at feeling the gate behind him open. He only dismissed the half-spell (incomplete spells were a danger to everyone if not dispelled, even the most harmless spell could turn deadly if incomplete), however, when someone's (a different man from the last time) voice spoke through the golem. “Wait! Wait! Kanda!” So that was the samurai's name? Allen glanced up at the older teen.

 

“Komui...” So that was Komui. “What's the meaning of this?”

 

“Sorry! We jumped to conclusions too soon! He's General Cross' pupil!” The must have found the letter Master Cross had sent them. Thank goodness, Allen had doubted that the man had sent it at all. He knew his Master did not want to be found after all, and sending a letter usually gave a hint to where one was. Allen pulled his attention back to the conversation at hearing Timcanpy's name. “Timcanpy is proof enough. He's one of us.”

 

Kanda continued to glower at Allen, his Mugen not lowering until a clipboard suddenly made contact with the side of his head. Allen stared at the newcomer in surprise. He had seen her from the corner of his eyes, but he hadn't expected the green-haired teenage girl to smack Kanda with the clipboard she had.

 

The samurai scowled and the girl frowned right back. “That's enough! We told you to cease your attack. Get in now or we're closing the gate.” At seeing neither of the teenage boys move, her eyes narrowed and she pointed to the gate. “Get in now!”

 

Once inside the large, drafty entrance hall of the Black Order, the girl introduced herself. “I'm Lenalee, the head officer's assistant. I'll take you to see him.” She smiled widely at Allen, who returned it with a hesitant yet polite one of his own.

 

“Nice to meet you.” Allen left proud of himself at keeping the uneasiness from his voice. This girl seemed a bit scary when mad. Part of him felt like he'd rather go another round with Kanda than get on Lenalee's bad side.

 

Speaking of Kanda, Allen noticed from the corner of his eye that the young man began to break away from their group. “Oh! Kanda,” Allen began as he turned to face the samurai, who paused to glare over his shoulder. “Is your name, right?” Allen pressed on, ignoring the glare - Master Cross' was much scarier, and Nea's even more so if he was in a foul mood. A genuine smile lit up Allen's face as he offered his right hand to the dark-haired Exorcist; it was surprising that the other could breakthrough one of his shields (even if the other hadn't sensed or seen it) when even level two Akuma could not. Perhaps he'd be a nice rival of sorts? “It's nice to meet you.”

 

The dark look Kanda gave him threw that thought of his right out the window and off the side of the cliff he had just climbed. “I don't shake hands with someone who's cursed,” the samurai stated before stalking off.

 

Allen felt his hand give a slight twitch as he sent his darkest glare after Kanda. ' _How cold and rude. Did anyone ever teach you manners? Although, if the curse he has was given through touch... But it didn't seem that way, it seemed way more personal. Plus, if it was transferred through touch wouldn't he me wearing more clothing?'_ He wondered as Lenalee apologized for Kanda's behavior and began to show him around. Allen was momentarily pulled out of his thoughts as he overheard the guards whispering. ' _Ouch. I may be a kid, but come on. Kanda cannot be much older than I, and look what he did! Lenalee's about my age too, right? And yes, yes I'm cursed, pretty certain about that,'_ he thought sarcastically, otherwise paying no attention to the whispers around him.

 

The white-haired Exorcist perked up at the mention of a library. “You've got a library around here?” he asked instantly, smiling apologetically when he realized he had accidentally cut whatever Lenalee had been about to say off.

 

The girl just chuckled and nodded. “We do, if you'd like, I could show you it later?” At seeing Allen's excited nod she smiled widely. “I take it you like to read?” Lenalee asked, leading Allen up a set of stairs. The younger boy nodded.

 

“Whenever Master Cross left me on my own for a while, I spent a lot of time reading. He was always kind enough to leave me a little money for books when I ran out.” Master Cross actually had left Allen quite a bit of money for his books, letting his student indulge in the habit – after the redhead had taught his student how to read. A smile flickered across Allen's face as he remembered the day his Master had given him his current suitcase, seemingly normal on the outside but on the inside it had a hidden compartment. Master Cross had used a spell to enlarge that compartment, giving Allen plenty of space for his books and other various things. “What else does the order have?” Allen asked kindly, giving Lenalee another apologetic smile for interrupting her.

 

Lenalee smiled widely as she answered, “We have a training room, large bathrooms, and some individual rooms.”

 

“We get our own room?” Allen repeated, his eyes lighting up. That would be a good thing, not having a roommate. While he didn't mind sharing rooms or spaces with Nea or his Master, to have to share with someone he didn't know or trust (not to mention that he'd like to practice his spell work in peace...) would be a bit disastrous.

 

“Unless something happens that destroys some rooms, then yes.” Allen took note of the grimace that flickered across Lenalee's face.

 

“Does that happen often?” he asked, only to be ignored as the green-haired girl continued.

 

“All Exorcists leave for their missions form here, that's why some of them call headquarters 'home'.”

 

' _Home, huh?'_ Allen couldn't recall anytime he could call a place home. He supposed when he had traveled with Mana, he had considered being with his father 'home', but he never had a _place_ to call home.

 

They then entered a hallway that oozed of 'DO NOT TOUCH' to Allen. He felt a shiver go down his spine just looking at the ominous doors around them. He hesitantly asked, “What sort of rooms are on this floor?”

 

“Don't worry about it,” the teenage girl answered immediately.

 

“Excuse me?” the white-haired boy responded, confused (but at the same time understanding) as he stared at Lenalee, biting back a grimace at seeing the serious look she was giving him.

 

“You don't need to know.” Turning sharply on her heel, she headed towards and down the next flight of stairs. Lenalee called back to Allen, “Come on. Let's hurry.”

 

Allen gave the floor once last glace before hurrying after her. He tried to pay attention to the route they were going, but everything looked so similar and the turns were a bit confusing, so he found his thoughts slipping back to Kanda. ' _I wonder what sort of curse he carries. It didn't seem like mine at all, and didn't give off any sort of Yin magic, but at the same time didn't give off any Yang. Perhaps it's one of those rare gray curses Master and Nea have told me about?_ ' he mused silently.

 

Before he knew it, Allen found himself being led into the Science Department. Allen gave a man that had been waiting by the door a curious look and Komui pushed up his glasses, a wide smile on his face as he greeted, “Hi, how ya doing? I'm Komui Lee, head officer of the Science Department!” He took a sip of his coffee as he motioned for Allen and Lenalee to follow him. “Welcome, Allen. By the way, what a rough day you had earlier.”

 

' _Were they watching me the whole time I was climbing the cliff?'_ Allen wondered as he was led into a white-walled room in the department. He looked around, taking notice of the odd equipment that was laying around the room. He didn't have a good feeling about this...

 

“Can you show me your arm?” Komui asked.

 

“Hmm?” Allen blinked, looking over at the dark-haired man in confusion. He hadn't heard a word the man had said, too lost in his own thoughts again.

 

Komui smiled knowingly. “It's a lot to take in, isn't it?” He chuckled before asking again, “You injured your Anti-Akuma weapon earlier when Kanda attacked you, right? There's no need to endure the pain. I'll get you patched up real quick!”

 

Allen didn't like the grin Komui gave him, but he liked the pain his arm was in even less - he hadn't honestly noticed it much until the other man had mentioned it. Now it seemed like his whole arm was on fire. He carefully placed the blood-red arm on the operating table, just now noticing the shakes and trembles his hand was doing. There were white veins on his hand and up his arm, the sight made Allen worried.

 

Komui's next words worried him further. “The nerves have been damaged. Lenalee, can you get the anesthetic?” he asked his younger sister, who nodded and hurried off to get it from a drawer in the cabinet nearby. Komui then turned back to Allen. “Can you invoke it?”

 

“Um, sure.” Allen nodded hesitantly, wondering what Komui was about to do as he silently activated Crown Clown.

 

Komui hummed thoughtfully as he observed the activated Innocence. Rapping his knuckles lightly against the arm, he said brightly, “You're a parasite type!”

 

“Parasite?” Allen muttered, wondering why Komui had brought it up. He knew he was a parasite type – his Master was a weapon-type accommodator, and Grave of Maria was parasite too. Allen ignored Komui's explanation of the types of accommodators, having already had this lecture from Cross several years ago. Did they (the Order) expect him to come into this not knowing most common knowledge things? Did they have that little faith in his Master? (Allen had to admit, if he was them, he wouldn't have faith in Master Cross either.)

 

At Komui's warning of not to look, the white-haired Exorcist turned his head away, grimacing at the feeling of those tool touching and messing with his arm. While it felt odd, Allen didn't feel any pain, so he counted that as a plus.

 

Still, later as he and Komui stood on the platform that was moving downwards quickly, he swore he'd never break his arm again. Allen grimaced at the Head Officer's cheerful tone. “It won't move until tomorrow because of the anesthesia, but it's completely fixed!” At seeing the look on Allen's face, Komui smiled. “Now, now. It certainly has its downsides, but parasite types are extremely rare. They are the chosen ones to wield Innocence to its full capacity,” Komui explained.

 

“Innocence?” Allen murmured thoughtfully and was startled by the voices that suddenly boomed overhead.

 

“ **The Innocence of God. The power of the almighty. Yet another... We have managed to grasp... God.”**

 

Allen looked up to see five people sitting on what looked like thrones above them on a ledge. The people were dressed in dark cloaks with hoods that covered their faces, giving them nothing but a shadowy outline.

 

“Those are our bosses. The Great Generals,” Komui explained, also looking up at them. He then turned towards Allen with a smile. “Now, prove your worth to them.”

 

“What?” Allen made to ask more, but was cut off as _something_ grabbed him. Long with pale, almost translucent tendrils, and at the end of the tendrils were finger-like things that wrapped around and tugged on him. They pulled him over the edge of the rail. Allen was stunned, nothing rarely caught him unawares anymore, and this thing had.

 

He twisted quickly, trying to shake off the 'fingers' and to get a look at the thing that was holding onto him. Allen exhaled sharply at seeing the large thing holding onto him; it had a human-like face, however it was much larger than any normal human's face, and only the nose and lips of the person was visible. The white tendrils covered the thing's eyes and most of its scale-like body – it reminded Allen a bit of paintings he had seen of dragons.

 

“What the-” Allen gaped as the thing - woman, perhaps? It had a feminine face (but so did Kanda...) - had its tendril-like hands grab his left arm and pulled it away from the rest of his body (and out of the sling) to examine it.

 

“Inn... Innoce... Innocence,” the large woman said slowly (the voice was anything but male).

 

Allen winced at the odd feeling of the tendrils probing it, seeming to get under his skin, but leaving no cuts or marks. He could feel it probing further, tendrils running up his neck and to his face, to his curse. ' _What the hell is this thing?! Crown Clown, activate!'_ He tried, but his Innocence only began to change before stopping in a half-way state.

 

“I told you, it's useless until tomorrow. It won't move until then because of the anesthesia!” Komui called up to him from the platform, sounding amused.

 

“Komui!” Allen gnashed his teeth angrily, trying to twist around to glare at the scientist, but was held tightly by the tendrils.

 

“Your cross is magnificent, Allen,” Komui smiled widely, and asked the giant woman, “What to you think, Hevlaska? How do you like this soldier of life?”

 

' _Gross.'_ Allen grimaced at the feeling of the tendrils going further inside of his body _. 'What is it doing? It feels like its probing the inside of my body, ugh...'_ He turned his attention back to Crown Clown _. 'What is Komui thinking? It's only anesthesia, I've activated Crown Clown under worse. Activate!'_ Nothing then- _'Dammit! Crown Clown, invoke!'_

 

Allen heard a loud snap and could only stare at his arm, which, pressured under his demand, the Innocence had tried to activate around the anesthesia. His activation looked nothing like it did normally, with its usual covering in pieces, the nerves of his hand and bones exposed. Allen bit the inside of his cheek from screaming in pain, the tang of copper ran across his tongue as he bit hard enough to bleed.

 

He heard murmuring from the woman before she said more clearly to him, “Don't force an invocation... when your nerves are numb!” she scolded. “Calm down, child... I am not your enemy...” Through sweat-soaked bangs Allen peered up at her, his body trembling in pain as she leaned down and pressed her forehead to his. A bright light shone for a moment as Hevlaska continued to scold him, “It is extremely dangerous... if the Innocence and its accommodator... are not properly synchronized when invocation happens.” She paused for a moment before announcing loudly, “Two percent... sixteen percent... thirty... forty-one... fifty-eight... seventy-eight... eighty-three percent!”

 

As she pulled her head away, Allen noticed he had stopped shaking and the blinding pain in his arm was gone. Hesitantly he lifted his hand and silver hues widened in shock as he flexed his left hand, finding it perfectly back to normal in its inactivated state.

 

Hevlaska's slow, but reassuring and kind voice drew his attention again as she said, “You should be fine now... It seems like your maximum synchronization rate with your Innocence is eighty-three percent.”

 

That sounded familiar, but taking a quick glance through his memories told him that his master had only mentioned something about how Generals were different from regular Exorcists due to their synchronization rate going past breaking point. “Synchronization rate?” Allen dared to ask.

 

He thought he saw Hevlaska smile at him, but wasn't quite certain. “It is the numerical value that reflects your ability to activate your anti-Akuma weapon... The lower the synchronization rate, the lower chances of an activation happening, the more difficult it is. A lower synchronization rate places the accommodator in danger,” she explained. Allen then found himself being lowered back onto the platform he had been suddenly pulled from. “It was not my intention to scare you,” Hevlaska apologized. “I only wanted... to touch your Innocence and learn about it...”

 

Allen cocked his head to the side, looking up at the woman curiously. Was it some ability of her own that taught her about Innocence? Was it due to Innocence or magic? Most likely Yang magic, if it was... “You wanted to learn about my Innocence?” he pressed gently, curiosity getting the better of him.

 

Hevlaska nodded slowly. “Allen Walker... Your Innocence will one day create a great “Destroyer of Time” in the dark future... that is what I felt... that is my power...”

 

Allen pressed his lips together worriedly. “A destroyer?” he murmured uncertainly. He had joined the Order to be a savior, not a destroyer...

 

Komui's cheerful voice once again pulled Allen from his thoughts. “That's quite impressive!” Komui clapped, his grin almost infectious. “It must be referring to you! Hevlaska's prophecies are usually dead-on! Looks like we can expect some big things from you, Allen!”

 

“Komui.” Allen whipped around quickly, his right arm throwing the hardest punch he could muster. Komui barely had time to duck and hold up his clipboard; which Allen's punch nearly broke in half. “Could I just sock you once?” he growled darkly.

 

“Silly, you already took a shot!” Komui said sing-songly, unaffected by Allen's dark glare. “Sorry! I know how surprised you must have been. I'm sure it was certainly scary.”

 

Allen barely held back the urge to smack the scientist over the head. “That's why you tell me things like this beforehand!” He sighed and crossed his arms, a faint scowl on his lips. The white-haired Exorcist nearly asked if they could go back up when Komui started to talk.

 

He listened, half interested in the history lesson Komui was giving him about the Innocence. Allen already knew most of it, Master Cross may be a demon in flesh and blood, but there was no way the man would send his only apprentice out there without any knowledge about what he was getting into.

 

When Komui was finished, the Great Generals above spoke again, “ **You must fight. That is your fate, as one chosen by the Innocence. It is your fate...”**

 

' _And why aren't they out there fighting?'_ Allen couldn't help but wonder. _'Or are they not chosen by Innocence?'_

 

“So there you have it.” Komui turned towards him, a bit of a grim smile on his face. He held his hand out to Allen. “That's it for the long explanation. Let's both do our best for our world, Even though we won't make a single penny off of it.” He chuckled.

 

Allen returned the smile with a faint one of his own, a ghost of a chuckle leaving his own throat as he shook Komui's hand. “Yes.”

 

“Then welcome to the Black Order, Allen Walker!” Komui's cheerful demeanor returned and he held up a finger. “With you joining the Order, we now have a total of nineteen Exorcists! They're all scattered about around the world right now, on different missions, but I'm certain you'll meet them soon enough!” Komui then motioned to Hevlaska. “By the way, Hevlaska is an Exorcist as well.”

 

“What?” Allen stared up at the large Exorcist, who seemed amused by his stunned expression.

 

“I am... a different type of accommodator than you and the others... I have been with this Order since the very beginning... since its establishment... as the accommodator of the cube... I am its guardian...” Hevlaska explained slowly. “I have met... many Exorcists since... Allen... may the Lord's divine protection... be with you.”

 

* * *

 

 

When Allen and Komui returned to the top level for the platform, Lenalee was there waiting. “Lenalee, would you mind showing Allen to his room?” her brother asked.

 

“Of course not.” She smiled widely at Allen. “Did everything go well?” Lenalee glanced at his newly healed arm.

 

“Everything went great!” Komui replied cheerfully, sipping at his coffee as one of his assistants (Reever, Allen thought he heard Lenalee call him) started to drag him by the back of his coat towards a set of stairs.

 

Allen watched them disappear, a faint, uneasy chuckle leaving his lips. This place seemed... Odd, to say the least. Crazy? Perhaps. ' _You haven't been here a whole day yet, give it time, Allen. Perhaps it isn't as bad as you think._ ' He silently scolded himself as Lenalee lead him towards another set of stairs.

 

“Oh, before we go up, are you hungry? It's past dinnertime but I know Jerry keeps his kitchen open late for those who return later,” Lenalee said, pausing for a moment to look back at him.

 

He shook his head and Allen smiled gratefully at her. “I ate down in the village, but thank you.” He hesitated for one moment before asking, “Would you come and get me for breakfast though? I...” Allen's cheeks flushed faintly as he unwillingly admitted, “I have a horrible sense of direction. I get lost often, especially when I'm not paying much attention to where I'm going. Not to mention this place-” He waved a hand at the stone floors and walls around them, everything to him looked the same. Even the doors were the same shape and shades. “-is like a giant labyrinth.”

 

Allen saw the corners of Lenalee's lips turn upwards as she gave a soft giggle. “It is like one to newcomers, I suppose.” They headed up another set of stairs. “What time would you like me to come get you?” she asked, turning a corner at the next floor.

 

“Anytime after sunrise will be fine. I get up pretty early.”

 

They headed down another stone corridor before Lenalee stopped beside a door and waved a hand at it. “And this will be your room, Allen.” She smiled at him. “I've got to get back to Brother before he blows up the department again. I'll see you tomorrow morning. Goodnight, Allen.”

 

“Good night, Lenalee. Thank you.” They gave each other a short wave as she headed back down the way they had come. When she disappeared from view Allen let out a breath he didn't know he was holding. Lenalee was a sweet girl, certainly a pretty, young woman, but with everything that had happened today, he was glad she had left quickly. Everything was starting to overwhelm him.

 

Silver hues stared for a long few seconds before he reached out hesitantly and opened the door. Shutting the heavy wooden door behind him, Allen stripped off his coat and sat his suitcase down as he looked around his new bedroom. The floor and walls were the same stone as the hallway, but on the floor there was a black-and-white diamond patterned rug (it reminded him of his playing cards). A full-sized bed was immediately to his right, the frame was made of a dark iron and the headboard pressed against the wall with the door. A light shone brightly above it, illuminating most of the room. At the foot of the bed there was a desk and chair; the desk was made of a light wood and had a shelf above it while the chair was made of a darker wood. A wardrobe was pressed against the farther wall, opposite of the door.

 

There were a few pictures on the walls, but the room had a very unlived-in feel to it. Allen let out a sigh as he plopped onto the rug, physically and mentally tired from the day. Leaning against the bed, he tucked an arm under his head and let his body slump. It was then that he noticed that his constant companion was missing.

 

“I wonder where Tim went...” Allen murmured to himself, but didn't give it much more thought. Tim could take care of himself – unless there were cats around. The little golem was very resourceful. He glanced up and his eyes widened at the sight of one of the pictures above the bed. He gave a soft chuckle as he flipped over.

 

“I'm finally here... Mana.” A grin spread across his face. “I'm finally at the Order. This is the beginning of my official career as an Exorcist.” He pulled himself up onto the bed and knelt in front of the picture, reaching his left hand out to touch it.

 

The picture was of a chained clown, tears running down its cheek and a large coffin was tied onto their back as the moon shone down with a curled hill behind it. Despite that, the clown was grinning widely.

 

““Don't stop.” “Keep walking.” That's what you always said...” Allen pressed his palm against the picture. “I swear... I won't stop no matter what. I'll keep on walking as long as I live.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that's the chapter! Gosh, I've been looking forward to writing this chapter since I started this, and I'm really looking forward to introducing more and more of the great characters that make up the series!
> 
> I'm really pleased with how this chapter turned out and I certainly hope you all enjoyed it! This is the longest chapter I've written yet!
> 
> Comments, criticism, or just want to say what you liked about the chapter? Please leave a review! Reviews and constructive criticism helps keep me motivated! (All flames will be used to set my bonfires this summer, and roast marshmallows. Yum!) Liked what you read and want more? Please Follow and Favorite if you haven't!
> 
> I'll see you guys next week! Until then,
> 
> ~Snowy.


	6. Chapter 6

_ There was blood covering his hands, which trembled as they carefully stitched skin back together. Skin that he knew would never heal. “Nea...” the voice (his voice? It sounded like his, but older, a bit deeper) croaked. “Gods... Nea. I'm sorry. I messed up. I really messed up.” _

_ Allen could see now the person that he was stitching back together. Half-lidded, unseeing golden eyes were facing the ceiling, the man's skin was so pale (not the gray that Allen had thought it would be) and blood still oozed out of the numerous wounds the young man had. Some part of Allen knew this was a dream, and he tried to speak but nothing happened. If anything, the person (him? He saw what they saw and when they moved he felt his own limbs moving, but he had no control) pursed their lips tighter. _

_ His sleeves were rolled up, Allen noted, and his red (red? He hadn't had red hair since Mana's death) hair was kept in a ponytail, which fell over his shoulder numerous times, only to be pushed back, the blood on his hands staining it a deeper red. A tan trench-coat stained in cuts and blood was lying across the back of a chair with a mostly white (also bloodstained and torn) shirt tossed over it. Nea was lying on a bed, and he was standing next to that bed. His hands were still shaking, but his stitches were steady, tight. _

“ _I'll find a way to fix this, to fix our plans...” the person spoke, finishing the last stitch on the wound he had been stitching. He then moved onto the largest one Allen saw, the one through Nea's heart. With the way the skin pulled back, Allen could see the man's shattered ribs, his torn muscles and his heart – cut in half._

_ Allen wasn't sure if it was him that was feeling sick to his stomach seeing it, or the other man.“Just wait a little while, all right? I'll be sure to wake you up soon... I'm sorry...” he felt his lips moving as he whispered; hot tears rolled down his cheeks. “I'll fix this. Just sleep for now.” _

Allen jerked awake. Silver eyes flew open as he sat straight up, his body trembling and his stomach rolling. The dim light of the lamp above him shone down on him, sweat soaking his pale skin.

“What was that...?” Allen asked himself slowly after a while, his voice cracking slightly and his parched throat complained. He had calmed down now; curiosity and confusion was replacing his panicked state. “That wasn't... that couldn't have been a dream, but if not a dream, then what..?” he mused. Allen raised a hand to push back his sweat-soaked bangs and found that his hands were still trembling, much like the man in his dreams, like... him? “No, that couldn't have been me,” the Exorcist reassured himself. “His left arm was normal. It wasn't made of Innocence.”

Nodding certainly to himself, Allen chanced a glance out the window and nearly groaned at seeing that the sky wasn't the pitch black it had been when he had gone to sleep, but was now a duller gray. Giving sleep up as a disillusioned dream, he pushed back the white sheets and swung his legs around. Allen grimaced at the feeling of the cold floor beneath his feet. He stretched as he stood, his back giving a satisfying pop and he yawned. It was nice to actually sleep in a bed again Allen realized as he noticed that a few aches he had had from sleeping on the hard ground the night before were gone.

“All right then. Since it's too early for Lenalee to be here, I'll just have to begin my morning workout.”

* * *

By the time that the sun finally peaked over the horizon, Allen had been doing his last set of one-handed, upside-down, balancing a chair on one leg, thumb push-ups. His body was once again soaked in sweat, but he was no longer wearing his night shirt. He had however, kept on his sleeping pants. “Three... hundred...” His breath came out in a grunt as the sun shone in his eyes. With a wince, he glanced up to see the sun beaming in through his open window.

With the grace and balance of an acrobat, he grabbed the back of the chair with his fingers, set it back onto four legs and with a simple push of the arm and flip, landed back on his feet. With a grin, he mock bowed to a fake audience before standing back upright.

It wasn't long after Allen had dressed and cleaned himself up that a soft knock was tapped at his door. Plastering on a smile, the teenager opened the door to reveal the green-haired Exorcist.

“Good morning, Allen.” Lenalee smiled widely at him. “Ready to head down to the cafeteria?” Before Allen could answer though, his stomach rumbled rather loudly. He felt a blush creep up his neck to his cheeks as Lenalee giggled. “I'll take that as a yes.”

Allen grinned sheepishly as Lenalee led him down the halls towards the stairs. He made sure to commit every step, every turn, every corner, every crack in the wall, to memory. There was no way he wanted to get lost on his way back, or on his way to the cafeteria in the morning. By the time that Allen could smell the scent of food wafting from the open cafeteria doors, his stomach was growling something fierce. Lenalee wasn't giggling aloud anymore, but he could still see the corners of her lips twitch upwards whenever a particularly loud growl left him.

When they entered the cafeteria, she nudged him towards the counter. He hesitantly waited for the person in front of him to pick up their order before stepping towards it. The man (who Allen assumed this was the Jerry Lenalee had mentioned the day before) behind the counter turned to look at him, a pan of food in hand. “Oh my!” Jerry cooed, “Are you new? My, oh, my! What a cutie!”

A smile spread across Allen's lips at the cheerfulness the other shown. “Hello, it's nice to meet you,” he greeted Jerry politely. He knew never to anger a chef, having done so previously... Allen had certainly regretted that for weeks.

Allen bit back a chuckle at the quite squeal Jerry gave. “What can I get you? I'll make anything you want!”

' _You might regret saying that...'_ the boy thought, though aloud he murmured. “Anything? Then-” He ordered his favorite dishes that he had eaten while traveling with Master Cross. It was a large, odd combination, Allen knew, but he didn't mind. With a metabolism like his, he'd be hungry again by lunch. The silver-eyed Exorcist made sure to end it with his favorite dessert – Mitarashi Dango. “And may I get everything in large, please?” he added, giving Jerry his sweetest smile, biting back another chuckle at the look of disbelief the man gave him. Very few understood his metabolism, caused by the toll his Innocence did on his body.

His silent chuckle died away at hearing the scuffle behind him and Allen nearly groaned. He turned his head to see the Exorcist from the day before telling the group of Finders behind him to shut up. ' _Don't get involved. Kanda already hates you, don't give him a bigger reason by stepping in. Don't get involved, it's not your fight. Do-'_ his inner mantra was tossed aside as he saw the (much larger) Finder aim a punch at the dark-haired Exorcist. Allen took a step in their direction, but paused when Kanda easily dodged it and instead seized the man by his throat.

Allen's lips pursed together tightly (not unlike how the man in his dream had) and he moved only when Kanda's grip had tightened enough that it would cause the Finder to black out, if held any longer. He was over there in a second, moving quicker than few could see. Allen had begun to reach out with his right hand, but swapped it for his left at remembering that Kanda had mentioned not wanting to touch a cursed person. His Innocence was the farthest thing from cursed, so he hoped that would do.

“That's enough,” Allen scolded lightly, his grip on Kanda's wrist tight enough to force the samurai to drop the now unconscious Finder. “I may have not been here long, but I do know that Finders are just as important – if not more so – than Exorcists. They may not have Innocence, true, but they put their lives on the line just as much as we do. Not to mention we lose many more Finders than Exorcists.”

To his surprise, Kanda had stayed silent through Allen's scolding. He simply frowned at Allen and said, “Let go of me, Moyashi.”

_'Beansprout?'_ Allen pondered momentarily the nickname before reminding Kanda, “My name is Allen.”

Kanda let out a low chuckle. “I'll remember you if you manage to survive for a month. They drop like flies around here, just like those ones.” He shot glare towards the other Finders from the unconscious one's group. All of them were glaring at Kanda.

Allen himself scowled, but bit back a harsh remark. “That's not the way to talk to someone.” He merely raised a brow at the dark glare the teenager sent his way. He had seen way worse glares, harsher ones too. This boy wasn't going to impress him with that. He gave him an unimpressed look.

“With your kind of attitude, you're going to die early, kid. I hate guys like you,” Kanda stated.

' _That's what you think, asshole._ ' Allen thought, but aloud he said, “Good to know.”

Kanda's glare turned darker and he opened his mouth to say something, but whatever he was going to say was cut off by a voice calling across the cafeteria. “Kanda! Allen!” Allen released his grip on Kanda's wrist as they both turned to look at the speaker. Reever and Lenalee was across the cafeteria, the latter was carrying a boxed breakfast while the former was carrying a large stack of books. It had been Reever who had spoke and he called out again, “Finish eating in ten minutes and come to the command room. You both have a mission.”

“All right,” Allen called back, his eye giving a slight twitch at the dismissive “Che” Kanda gave before the latter sat back down. Allen made to say something, but he was interrupted by Jerry calling him over for his breakfast. He shot Kanda's back an apologetic look and smiled at the table of Finders (who all were looking at him with awe) before heading over to the counter. That awe soon turned to shock at seeing how much Allen had ordered and how he actually finished almost all of it (save a few sticks of the dango) in the ten minutes Reever had given them.

Allen made sure to follow Kanda out of the cafeteria, munching quietly on the dango. He was in the middle of memorizing their path when the samurai spoke, “And why are you following me, Moyashi?”

“It's Allen,” came the response after Allen had swallowed. “I don't know the way to the Command Room.”

“Che.” And that was the end of their conversation.

When they reached the Command Room, they found Lenalee standing off to the side while Reever attempted to wake the sleeping Komui - who was nearly buried under a large stack of paperwork. “Boss!” Reever shook Komui's shoulder. “Head Officer! Komui!” He punched the man on the head, and when that didn't work, he leaned down and Allen barely caught what he whispered into the man's ear, “I heard Lenalee's getting married.”

That seemed to do the trick. Allen pondered the ways Reever must've tried before their arrival while from the corner of his eyes he could see Kanda shaking his head in disgust and heard Lenalee's weak chuckle.

“Sorry about that,” Reever apologized to the Exorcists while Komui wailed about his sister not telling him about her wedding. “That's the only way we know of waking him up.”

“Really?” Allen couldn't help but ask, turning to the scientist. “You've tried everything? What about dumping a bucket of ice water on his head? Though, that might ruin his papers... How about shov-pushing him off of his chair? Have you tried setting the tips of his hair on fire? With water set aside to put it out, of course...” he trailed off at seeing the confused and concerned looks he was getting from the others. Allen grinned widely. “Just joking! Well, on that last one anyway. I've tried the others with Master – he's hard to get up in the morning – but none of them seemed to work for him.”

With one last concerned glance, Komui motioned for Kanda and Allen to sit on the couch while Reever made to hang up some of the scrolls he had brought up. “Sorry about that. I pulled an all-nighter so...”

“So did I!” Allen heard Reever grumble under his breath. He bit back a chuckle as Lenalee handed him and Kanda packets.

“We don't have much time, I want you to leave as so as I've finished your briefing. Make sure to read those packets while on your train,” Komui said. It clicked in Allen's mind that he was about to go on his first official mission as an Exorcist – with Kanda. As this clicked, Komui said, “I want you both as a team.” Allen shot Komui a look of despair while he saw Kanda give the Head Officer a look of disgust. The white-haired boy frowned at Komui's chuckle. “What? Can't stand each other already? Well, too bad. I'll let you two know now, I'm not having any of it.” His eyes narrowed for a moment before relaxing, then taking on a more serious expression. Gesturing to the scrolls Reever hung behind him of maps, Komui began his debrief.

* * *

“Are you sure this is all right? It's a little large on me,” Allen said, messing with the Exorcist coat Komui had somehow produced from somewhere and forced onto the Exorcist.

“Yep! Think of it as an Exorcists' uniform. It has been made to withstand combat against Akuma, and I've gone and modified gloves for your left hand!” Komui stated cheerfully.

_'I wonder what he's done to it.'_ Allen gazed curiously at the glove before feeling something from inside one of his inner pockets shift and move, crawling up his sleeve. “Tim!” Allen smiled brightly at seeing the golem. “Where have you been?” he asked, stepping into the boat that would take them down to the town.

“Timcanpy has a video memory, but someone has seemed to lock it. That's why I did an all-nighter, I as trying to unlock it to take a look into your past,” Komui explained, taking a sip of coffee.

' _I know he does. I'm the one who locked it.'_ Allen thought, but smiled apologetically and lied, “Sorry, Komui. Master must have done that. He doesn't want to be found, and I know he'll go to extreme measures to be certain of that.” In actuality, Allen had known that some scientist would want to take a peek at Tim's memory, and had locked it. He didn't want to risk a chance of them finding out about Nea.

Komui seemed to have accepted that as a reasonable answer, as he nodded and smiled widely. “Off you go!” He gave the team a thumbs up as they left.

Allen's smile turned real as he waved back at Komui. “Off I go.”

* * *

“I have a question! I don't understand-” the white-haired Exorcist began later, only to be cut off by his dark-haired partner.

“Not now, Moyashi! Worry about our train!” Kanda scowled.

“It's Allen,” Allen grumbled in response, even as he stepped off of the ledge of a bridge and onto a beam below.

“Please hurry, our train is here!” their Finder called up to them.

' _Are they insane?!'_ Allen wondered, even as he jumped from the iron beam and onto the moving train. He winced slightly as he slammed chest first into the train. Gloved fingers desperately clung to the train's roof, and Allen breathed a sigh of relief when he didn't go sliding. A glance at Kanda made him wince to see that the older Exorcist had landed on his back. ' _That must have hurt..._ ' To his surprise, however, as they began to crawl along the train top Allen noticed that Kanda didn't show any signs of injury or discomfort.

' _That's odd. I'm sure to have bruises, but he doesn't look nor move like he's hurt, too. But the Finder does as well... Maybe it has something to do with his curse?'_ Allen wondered silently as the Finder (whose name he still didn't know) opened the hatch on top of the train. He watched as the Finder jumped down followed by Kanda and then Allen swiftly climbed through, catching his fingers on the edge to give him a shorter drop. Tim – of course – simply flew down, but made sure to hover near Allen.

Allen watched with interest as the conductor tried to get them to head back towards the Second Class cars until the Finder pointed out the Rose Cross on his and Kanda's uniforms. His lips twitched slightly at seeing the conductor pale and bow immediately. He had nearly forgotten how people reacted to seeing the Rose Cross, having been stuck on his own on his travels to the Black Order. Master Cross had abused the Rose Cross while they had been traveling together (and Allen assumed for much, much longer than that) to get them free rides.

“You don't seemed surprised by that,” the Finder said to him, gazing at him curiously. Or so Allen thought was curiosity, with the man's lower half of his face bandaged, he could only go by the sublet signs from the top-half of his face. He wore the tan coat of the Finders, and he had some sort of metal box on his back.

_'Something for communications, perhaps?'_ Allen mused before the white-haired teen smiled. “Master Cross explained to me what the Rose Cross was while we traveled,” was the only explanation he gave. “Also, I don't think I caught your name...?” he hesitated.

“I am Toma, the Finder that will accompany you to Mater. Pleased to meet you, Master Walker.” The Finder bowed.

“It's a pleasure to meet you, too, Toma,” Allen returned the greeting.

It wasn't long before the conductor returned and showed them to a private compartment. Toma insisted on staying outside of the compartment, sitting beside the door before Allen could attempt to convince him otherwise. He glared at the back of Kanda's head when the samurai walked past the Finder without a word, then with a slumping of his shoulders, Allen followed.

Allen gave a soft hum as he opened his suitcase and pulled out the packet from earlier. Closing the suitcase, he tucked it away before settling onto one of the fine leather seats. Opening his packet, he flipped through it – a quick glance at the teenager across from him showed Allen that Kanda had retrieved and was reading his as well. “So! About my question earlier... What does the legend have to do with Innocence?” He knew that most of the time Innocence was linked to something odd – that what Master Cross had told him, anyways. They had never actually searched for Innocence, the older man had preferred to use their time on his intelligence network, and training Allen.

His eye gave a twitch at hearing Kanda's audible, “Che” before he listened intently as Kanda began to explain how Innocence had altered itself over the years, how humans kept finding them and altering them further. Allen nodded faintly in agreement as Kanda said how it always created some kind of odd phenomenon. “So this 'Ghost of Mater' is most likely Innocence?” he asked, turning a page in the packet.

“Yeah.” Allen glanced up to see Kanda reading his own with disinterest. ““Wherever there's a mysterious phenomenon, there is Innocence.” That's why the Order sends Finders to investigate, and if the Finders find proof that there is Innocence, or that there is a high chance of Innocence, we're sent in.”

“What an odd material...” Allen murmured, his gaze drifting to his left hand where his own Innocence was hidden underneath the glove. His brow furrow as he recalled something. “I've heard of Mater before; last time Master and I were in Italy someone mentioned it to us because we were nearby... It's an abandoned city, some called it abandoned by God because of the harsh terrain. Didn't they make...” Silver hues widened as he realized- “The dolls...” he breathed. “Is the 'Ghost of Mater' one of their dolls?”

He glimpsed Kanada's head jerking up to look at him before Toma answered, “Yes, it is.” Both Exorcists turned their head to listen as he continued, “I was a member of the original expedition, so I saw it with my own eyes. The Ghost of Mater is one of the dolls the townspeople created over five hundred years ago.”

“That's... a bit creepy,” Allen murmured, shuddering at the thought. Could it be magic? He doubted it, but there always was a chance. If it was magic, it would no doubt be Yang magic. ' _Why do they get all the fun spells?'_ At seeing the odd look Kanda was giving him, Allen turned to face the dark-haired Exoricst. “What?” he demanded. “I've seen a lot of odd things traveling with Master, but dolls are creepy. Possessed dolls are even worse.”

He met Kanda's stare until Kanda “Che”'d and turned his gaze away. Feeling a bit smug, Allen tucked the packet away back into his suitcase before making himself comfortable in the seat, his lack of sleep the night before and early morning catching up to him. They still had a while before they would reach their destination, so why not take a nap?

With a yawn, pale eyelids fluttered shut and Allen fell asleep.

* * *

_ His fingers danced across the keys, his lips curved upwards into a smile as he played. He could almost see the music notes dancing off of the pages in front of him, twirling around him in time with the song. _

“ _What a lovely tune,” a voice spoke from beside him, and Allen recognized the voice to be Nea's. If he could, he would have turned his head quickly, but the person he was (again? He glimpsed their red bangs from the corners of their eyes) smiled a tad bit wider and continued playing the piano. “Do you have any lyrics to go along with it?”_

“ _Of course I do,” 'Allen' (Allen himself had no other name for this person, and since they seemed so like him...) rolled his eyes in a fond manner, scooting over on the bench to let Nea sit. The sudden warmth next to him and the feeling of the body pressing lightly against his side let him know Nea had sat._

“ _What kind of song is it this time?” came the question. Allen could feel (and he knew that 'he' could feel it, too) Nea's gaze follow his fingers as he continued to play. Somehow he knew the song was almost at an end, and for some reason it saddened him._

“ _A lullaby,” he answered simply, fingers pressing against the final keys as the song came to an end._

“ _That's new,” Nea's voice held surprise, and (what felt like at a snail's pace) 'Allen' turned to look at him, his lips curved into an amused smile. If Allen could have jerked in shock, he would have. The dark hair that he was used to seeing, was a bright shade of orange-red - 'Like a flame or the sunset,' Allen thought. Dark brown freckles splashed across Nea's face, and his eyes were an astonishing blue. Nea was smiling at him as the (younger, Allen noticed) man said, “You haven't written a lullaby before.”_

“ _I thought it was time for something new, and I don't write music often enough for you to say it is out of the normal. I have only written four songs, Nea,” 'Allen' said bluntly._

“ _Four is still four,” Nea said, reaching long, pale fingers out to brush against the keys. “Mind if I play it? Your lullaby.”_

“ _I do not. You will play it better than I ever could,” he said, turning away with a faked pout._

_ A nudge from his side made 'Allen' look at the amused Nea. “Of course I'll play it better,” Nea said, causing 'Allen' to scowl at him. “But that's only because I've put a lot of time and effort, as well as love into learning how to play. You've only been playing for a year or so, I've been playing since I was a small child. However, you're the one who wrote it, love, and I think you play it wonderfully.” _

_ 'Allen' stared at him for a long moment before asking, “How long were you standing there?” and then, “Who are you and what have you done with Nea?” _

“ _A while,” Nea admitted with a grin. “And I am me, just having a good day for once.” He gave a soft hum. “Sing it for me?” he asked, fingers pressing against the keys as he began to play the lullaby._

_ Allen could feel his eyes roll and, despite trying not to do so, a smile tug up on 'Allen's' lips. A quiet intake of breath, a moment to listen and then he began, “So the little infant fell into a deep sleep...” _

“-alker! Master Walker!” Silver hues flew open and Allen jerked awake, similar to how he had that morning. This time, however, his stomach wasn't rolling nor was he panicked. His confusion was the same though.

“Get up, Moyashi, we're here,” Kanda's gruff voice made Allen scowl.

“It's Allen,” he corrected as he straightened, having slumped over in his sleep. He grimaced at the new crick in his neck and Allen rubbed his cheek – which had stuck to the glass pane – while looking between Toma and Kanda, the latter still staring grumpily at Allen while Toma looked grim (well, as grim as he could behind the bandages wrapped around his face). “What's going on? Are we there yet?” he asked, brows scrunching in worry.

“Not yet,” Toma answered, “but I was attempting to contact the other Finders in Mater, nobody is answering.”

It was Allen's turn to frown. “That's unusual?” he questioned, and he could see from the looks he was getting it was. “How close are we to our stop?”

“Just a few more miles,” it was Kanda who answered this time. “We're running for Mater as soon as we get off. I hope you can keep up, Moyashi.”

Allen fought back another scowl at the nickname and instead stared coolly at the samurai. “I believe I will be able to, Kanda. The real question is, can you keep up with me?”

* * *

They were racing across the rocky ground towards Mater. Unsurprisingly, the two Exorcists could keep up with each other, while Toma raced alongside them.

“If the Ghost of Mater is a doll, how has it stayed active this whole time?” Allen called over to Kanda, his voice barely heard of the wind rushing from behind them.

“If the doll was created with Innocence, then it could be active for five hundred years more!” Kanda called back before suddenly digging his heels into the ground, and Allen did the same, a chill running down his spine.

They came to a sudden stop on the edge of a cliff, which looked down into the ruins of Mater. Crumbling buildings and empty streets were seen for a long while, and Allen could see Kanda frowning, his eyes a bit wide and Allen tell he was just as stunned by the sudden chill and new cold feeling they had.

But there was something else there, too. The wind still blew from behind them, sending dust and dirt into the town below, but if the wind had come from the town, Allen knew it would have carried the scent of blood. It would be carrying scent of the thing that his Yin magic, so tied with his Necromancy magic, was screaming at him that had happened;

**Death.**

 


	7. Chapter 7

The feel of death was almost overwhelming, and if he wasn't so used to it, Allen would have found himself vomiting. As it was, his stomach was turning a little. Out of the corner of his eyes, he saw Kanda frown just slightly, his brows furrowing in worry. “We got here as fast as we could... The other Finders are probably dead.”

_'No probably about it_ ,' Allen thought, biting the inside of his cheek as he felt a few more lives flicker away in the distance. He could feel others that were almost to the end of their life, but couldn't feel any alive (it was moments like this Allen wished he had Yang magic instead) and was trying to pinpoint where the dying ones were when Kanda interrupted his concentration.

“Hey, you!” When Allen turned his head to look at the older Exorcist, he found the other scowling. “Let's get something straight. If I think at any moment that you're hindering the mission, I'm not going to save you even if the enemy is about to kill you. Casualties of war are common, so don't think of me as a friend.”

“What a cold thing to say,” Allen pressed his lips together tightly as he turned his gaze back towards Mater. Silver hues widened slightly as he pinpointed where the dying Finders were. “This way!” he called, taking off suddenly to the right and jumping onto the cliff. He ignored Kanda's shout of anger and Toma's call of worry while he darted down the side, rocks tumbling away at his feet, causing his balance to go askew. Thankfully, being raised by a traveling clown, he had learned how to keep his balance even in the oddest positions. His feet finally hit rough stone as he reached the city below, and the sound of crumbling rocks behind him told Allen that the others had fallen.

Without waiting for his companions, the white-haired Exorcist took off in the direction that he felt the dying bodies, grimacing as he felt another soul free itself from the Earth. His eye activated as he turned a corner, and up ahead he saw a horde of Level Ones and a Level Two Akuma. The Two gave a shout that Allen couldn't hear and suddenly the Level Ones were firing at something just out of Allen's sight, the Level Two blocking it.

The Finders were over there, he felt that, and only a few alive – but he could feel they would die within the next ten minutes. He had skidded to a stop when the Akuma had come into view, and now Kanda and Toma had caught up, the former looking blood-boiling furious. “What the hell, Moyashi?!” he snapped, but Allen ignored him as he ran forward once again.

“Get to the Finders! I'll take care of the Akuma!” he called back to them. He once again ignored Kanda's outraged shout and instead activated his arm. A surge of anger soared through Allen as he saw that the Level Two had a Finder underneath its foot.

Allen saw red at seeing the Akuma smash the Finder's head in. “I'll play with your head to kill some time.” He heard the Akuma say, its voice high in pitch and rather annoying, if he was going to be honest. He could barely retrain a shout as he sudden slashed at it, sending it skidding backwards, but only for a moment. Silver hues widened in surprise as the Akuma's claw grabbed his Innocence, its face splitting into a grin as it cackled. “Smile!” He tried to jerk back, but the Akuma's grip was like steel, and Allen gasped in surprise at the sudden pain as he was kicked in the side once, then again and the second time he was sent flying through the nearby buildings.

The Exorcist could taste blood in his mouth. Using his left arm, Allen shoved the rubble around him away and spat the blood out before running his tongue along the new cut in his mouth. His eyes narrowed as he spat out (even though the Akuma was far off now), “You're the one who killed all the Finders!” His activated eye followed the motion of the Level Twom which flew right up to him. He gave it little attention, frowning as he thought, ' _So Master was right; Level Twos are different from ones. It seems this one can feel emotion.'_ His gaze flickered to the soul that was bound to the Akuma. ' _This is only the second time I've seen that but... It doesn't get easier. I wonder if the continue to corrode the higher level they reach?'_ Allen mused.

The sudden shadow looming over them caught both the Exorcist and the Akuma's attentions. Allen blinked in surprise at seeing the dark-haired samurai high above them, having leapt from a higher building's rooftop. He watched in wonder as Kanda spoke, his deeper seeming to echo through the still night air, “Mugen! Evil has risen! Netherworld creature, “Ichigen”!”

“Whoa...” Allen breathed, watching as the odd summons tore through the Level Ones like they were butter. He ignored the Two's confused and torn mutters and instead attacked it from behind, sending the Akuma through a few buildings (but no where near as many as it had tossed him.) Allen fought back a grin at hearing the Two's anger spluttering but it was Kanda who caught his attention again.

“Moyashi,” he called from the roof of a house (Allen noticed silently that he had what looked like a girl and a very old man tucked under his arms). At hearing Allen's “Hmm?” Kanda continued, “I'm not helping. You got yourself into this fight, you clean up the mess.”

“That's fine. Go ahead, as long as they're with you I don't have to worry. This shouldn't take me too long, I will catch up with you after I destroy the Akuma,” Allen called back, smiling. He let himself give a faint chuckle at hearing the dark-haired teen's “Che.” before he turned his attention back to the Two who was rushing him, an insane laugh leaving its lips.

Digging his heels into the ground, Allen then launched himself towards the Two, slashing out with his left arm at the same time the Akuma lashed out. A loud sounding 'BOOM' was the result, and Allen found himself skidding backwards, his back hitting the wall of a house. He dug his left 'hand' into the wall and when the Two was close enough, he ripped his hand out of the wall, bringing with him large hunks of stone and debris that flew at the Two.

When the Two began to slice away at the larger hunks of stone and rock, Allen saw an opening and took it. Leaping above the Two, he landed on one of the stone slabs right above it and lashed out with his Innocence, slicing it nearly in two. Silver hues widened, however, when his cursed eye saw no soul in the Akuma's body, nor any soul leaving it. ' _ It's a fake? A duplicate perhaps? Wha...' _ his inner musing was cut off as the Akuma's annoying voice called out.

“Over here! Over here! Little Exorcist!”

As Allen jerked around to face the Level Two, his body froze in surprise at the sudden pain that tore through his arm, and his eyes widened as he faced the Two. The Two looked like an almost perfect copy of himself, a smirk on 'his' lips and eyes narrowed in delight. ' _ Myself? No, a copy... not quite.' _ With a curse, he slashed at the Akuma who leapt away, laughing.

“Look at me! Look at me, Little Exorcist! I've cloned you! I've cloned your _power_. Oooh~ You've underestimated me, haven't you? I've a Level Two, I'm not li-”

Allen tuned the other out, his eyes narrowing just slightly as he looked the Akuma over. He knew that Twos had different powers, the only other Level Two he had met had control over the earth (and gods, that had been an irritating battle.) It seemed like this Two had cloned him, but something was off. ' _ It's a mirror imagine!'  _ Allen's eyes widened. ' _ Its Crowned Clown' is on his right arm, not the left like mine! This copy power of theirs, could I use it to my advantage somehow?'  _ He wondered, but before the white-haired Exorcist could think of anything, the Akuma's 'Innocence' shot out and sent him flying through several buildings again.

“What the hell was that?” Allen winced, sitting up in the new rubble, his new coat torn and bloody at his arm, the rest of it (to his faint surprise) didn't look touched. “I've never done that with Crowned Clown before... Is it evolving its powers? The Two moves fast, if I wasn't used to suddenly being attacked and if I hadn't caught those prongs with Crown Clown...” He glanced down at suddenly feeling a faint pain in his arm and flinched at seeing that his Innocence was damaged – again. “Twice in two days! Oh gods, Komui's going to try to fix it again!” Allen could already feel his stomach rolling.

A cracking sound pulled Allen out of his thoughts. “Cracking? I wonder wh- AHHHHHHHH!” his question turned into a scream of shock as the ground beneath him crumbled and broke away, sending him tumbling down into a pitch-black chasm. Without thinking, he quickly flipped to right himself and Allen dug his hand into the sides of the hole, managing to slow himself down as he neared a bright light below him. He still fell through the hole, the sudden brightness nearly blinding him and Allen jerked as one of his claws hooked itself on a chandelier.

Allen let out a shaky breath, a nervous laugh leaving him as he realized how close he had come to falling against the floor at a fast speed. A quick thought-spell and he released the chandelier, lightly floating to the ground instead. Dusting off his coat, silver eyes looked around, taking in the large stone columns and stone floor. “This looks like a ballroom, or something similar... I wonder if this is where they used to have the dolls dance,” he mused aloud, “but I do wonder why it's underground... No matter. I need to find a way up again, and I need to warn Kanda about the Two's abilities, too. Hey Tim-” He paused as he turned his head, and Allen didn't see the golden golem flying beside him, or settled on his shoulder like normal. “Ahh... Timcanpy? Oh dear... I hope he's safe with Kanda...”

Somehow, Allen doubted that. Letting out a long, heavy sigh, he resolved himself to attempting to find the others. “Knowing myself, I'll be lost down here until I die of starvation...” Allen murmured to himself. His shoulders slumped as he realized he needed to use magic. “I suppose it's a good thing I came prepared...”

Allen loved magic, loved learning it, loved reading about it (even those fictional books some people wrote, it amused him how wrong they could be about how magic was and how it worked) but he disliked using it for things like this. To him, it felt a bit like cheating. Others had to do without it, he had for years before Master Cross had taken the time to teach him, so to use it felt a bit wrong, while at the same time it felt right.

Digging a gloved hand into his pocket, the white-haired Exorcist pulled out a long, black strand of hair – Kanda's hair. He had nabbed one of the other's loose strands when he hadn't been looking, in case of something like this happening. Loosely grasping the strand in his fist, Allen raised his hand up to his lips and pressed them against his knuckles, his eyes closing as he whispered something long and quiet under his breath.

When silver hues reopened, Allen opened his fist and the strand of hair seemed to come to life, floating a few inches off of his palm and it began to drift in a direction that – at a glance – told Allen there would be lots of hallways and rooms, if the few doors he could see from across the wide space was anything to go by.

“Lead the way,” he commanded to the strand, and it began to speed up to a steady jog for him. As they navigated down long corridors and through a few tunnels that Allen had to crawl through, the white-haired Exorcist took a few moments to look at the architect around them. It was stunning, to think that five-hundred years had passed and these columns and rooms stood nearly perfectly intact, and even in a few places there was art either drawn onto the wall, or hung in frames. When he paused to look at the art, he was pleasantly surprised to see that most of the art depicted sorcery or magic.

But as they continued on, Allen caught flickering shadows out of the corners of his eyes and even once saw the ghostly apparition of a woman dancing in one of the rooms. With each shadow he saw, the smile that had been on Allen's face since seeing the art of sorcery faded bit by bit and almost completely disappeared at seeing the woman. ' _ Poor souls... Trapped here for hundreds of years, and I can't free them...' _ Only a strong Yang-sorcerer would be able to send the trapped citizens of Mater on – being a Yin-sorcerer (and one that was a natural in Necromancy at that) Allen didn't have the right kind of magic nor knowledge to send them on.

It nearly broke his heart when the shadows of a young child neared him. The Exorcist could feel the hopefulness radiating off of their soul. Allen's expression saddened as he knelt in front of the shadow, an apologetic tone to his voice as he apologized, “ **I am sorry. I cannot help you. I am a Dark sorcerer, my magic is not with the Light, I cannot send you on.** ” He wasn't certain if the child knew what he was saying; he wasn't certain if they spoke Greek, Latin or Italian, but if they were apart of a sorcery family, then it was likely that they spoke the language of magic (which, to Allen's knowledge, hadn't changed in thousands of years). “ **But I can promise you on my magic and soul, that every strong Yang sorcerer or sorceress I meet, I will tell them about Mater and all of you here.** ”

To his relief, he could feel the soul's disappointment (that he could not help them), understanding(they knew it was a fifty-fifty chance), surprise (it was rare that one swore on their magic, and on their soul was nearly unheard of), and then gratefulness (that he would spread the word). Allen waited until the shade disappeared before he turned his attention back to the strand of hair, which seemed impatient. “I know, I know. Let's get going, we need to hurry.”

Before he knew it, he found himself back inside of a small tunnel he had to crawl in. The strand of hair was floating casually in front of him again, the front end of it pointing downwards. “Are you serious?” he whined. “I asked you to take me to Kanda, not above him! I'm lost...” A faint feeling of doom came over him. “I'm going to be stuck here fo-” He jerked back in surprise and ended up whacking his head against the stone above him. “Ow! Tim- Tim?!” Allen's hopes were renewed at seeing the golden golem, which had eaten his way through the floor. “Do  _ you  _ know where Kanda is?” He nearly cried in relief when the golem nodded and flew back towards the hole he had eaten and he grinned at Allen.

“Move back, Tim. I'm about to crumble some of the rock away,” Allen warned the golem, his gaze focusing on the hole. He, however, accidentally put a little too much power into the spell he spoke softly, because the next thing he knew he was tumbling through the darkness. A sense of deja-vu hit him and Allen activated his Innocence, trying to catch his hand on anything, but the smooth stone he had carved out had nothing to catch nor dig into.

Below him he heard Kanda's voice calling his activation, and he could see what looked like him? His eye, however, didn't activate and he shot his Innocence hand out, wincing faintly as he caught 'Ichigen.' Popping out of the hole, he hesitated as the person that looked like him whispered.

“Sir... Walker...”

Silver eyes widened as he realized that it was Toma in front of him. ' _ What did... Did the Akuma project his mirror image on Toma?' _ Allen wondered.

“Moyashi!” Allen silently sighed at hearing the samurai bark angrily. He turned to see a furious Kanda, his blue eyes narrowed dangerously. “What the hell are you thinking!? Why did you protect the Akuma?”

“He's not an Akuma. My curse lets me see the souls of the Akuma,” Allen explained, his gaze turning back to Toma. He noticed a tear in the 'skin' on the Finder's cheek. “What this?” he murmured, eyes narrowing. His now deactivated hand moved to pull away the skin, which revealed Toma's actual face, the man now unconscious. Allen heard Kanda inhale sharply and he turned to face him, his eye activating this time and he roared out, “That Toma behind you is the Akuma!”

His warning came too late, and the Level Two had tossed Kanda through a wall. “Stay with Toma, Tim!” Allen told the golem before running after the two, Mugen buried into the stone nearby. His blood boiled at hearing the Two laugh at Kanda's death. “Curse you!” he screamed, tearing the Akuma's body in two with his activated Crown Clown. The force of his attack sent the Akuma pieces flying through several walls, but Allen paid it no attention as he turned towards his comrade, fear and confusion gripping him. He had always been able to sense if someone (alive, not Akuma) was going to die within a day; he had felt those Finders' day, he had felt several others before, so why hadn't he noticed Kanda's..?

Allen's breath caught in his throat when he realized that Kanda was still alive, his heart barely beating and his breath faint. It was also something else that shocked him, the feeling, the pull of Kanda's life force being forced outwards, to heal and mend the nearly-dead Exorcist. “Is that... Kanda's curse?” Allen wondered aloud as he stooped to wrap his arm around the other's waist, pulling Kanda close. “Is his life force forced to heal him?”

He wanted to ask Kanda about it, oh so very badly, but something told him it was a personal thing. If Kanda did ever want to tell him about it, his highest chance would be to become Kanda's friend – something told Allen that it would not happen.

The white-haired Exorcist made his way back to Toma and Tim, pausing for a moment to grab Mugen. “Hey, Tim? Mind swallowing this for a while? I know you can't digest it, but please try not to harm it – Kanda would kill me.” The golem bobbed up and down before swallowing the sword whole. “Thanks.”

Allen leaned Kanda against a wall just long enough to pick up Toma and toss the Finder over his shoulder before grabbing the dark-haired Exorcist again. “Lead the way, Tim,” he told the golden golem, praying that the little winged-ball knew where he was going.

They walked for what seemed like miles. Allen could still see shades and shadows flicker in the corner of his vision, but they stayed further away, their feelings no longer projected onto him. Nearly every step for Allen was painful, he knew he had a few cracked ribs (and possibly a broken one) and they ached and hurt in protest as he continued to carry to two heavy bodies of his comrades. Toma was awake by the time Allen was panting in exhaustion.

“Sir Walker... Leave me behind, you're injured, too,” Toma said, his voice dry and cracking.

Allen smiled faintly and snorted. “It's not that bad! I'm not going to leave you behind, Toma, don't protest,” he commanded and the Finder fell silent again. ' _ Dammit... If I continue on like this, my other ribs are going to break and I'm going to bust something... I don't know where we are, and I don't know if Tim is leading us towards the surface or not... I need to find someplace safe to put them and to tend to their wounds. Even if Kanda's if healing quickly, some of those bones need to be set to heal properly... Dammit!'  _ His attention was pulled away from his thoughts by the sound of someone – “Singing?” Allen murmured curiously, eyes lighting up at hearing the gentle tune. “I hear... singing?”

 

**Author's Note:**

> If you liked this chapter, go check out Badlydrawnnea and Badlydrawncrownclown on Tumblr! They both made fanart of this first chapter! Go check out these amazing people! owo Go go go!


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